Whore Street
by Asterixa
Summary: AU, Yaoi, GaaNaru and other side pairings. In a huge dreary City, a group of friends ekes out an existence in the only way they know how to. But new complications arise when the police takes a heightened interest in the workings of Whore Street. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Hello! I'm Asterixa. This is my first posted fanfic, and I beg of you, be nice to me.

The most possible misconceptions will be explained at the end of this chapter.

This is an AU yaoi, GaaNaru and possibly others. If you don't like...there's a back button up there somewhere. Leave.

I don't own Naruto and never will.

Review, please. Constr. criticism is wonderful, and flames will be doused.

Have fun!

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Whore Street

Rain sheeted down, drawing a grey veil over the steel and glass buildings, over the chipped concrete. A gust of wind forced the water to change direction, and it rippled like a silver curtain.

People wore their coats like armor, looking straight at the ground. Their feet knew the way -- after all, they took it every day! The oily puddles on the grimy sidewalk splashed under gleaming shoes and clacking high heels, staining pantyhose and perfectly-ironed pants.

One woman, looking harried and stressed, had a little girl by her side. The woman's suit looked a bit worse for wear, and she wore no coat. The little girl was carefree, skipping and splashing among the dirty puddles. A friendly bark made her look up.

She peered into the grey rain. There was a brightly lit newspaper stand in front of her, and two figures sat under the awning at the back of it. The girl didn't notice that her mother had continued walking, stepping closer to the two forms. The sweet-sounding bark came again.

"Hey, look. Someone's come to visit us!" The cold voice came from the left person, a boy wearing goggles. All the other details about him were hidden by the tattered brown blanket he'd swathed himself in.

The other boy leaned forward, grinning toothily. He reminded the girl strongly of the dog curled up in his lap - the origin of the barks - with his shaggy dark hair and friendly eyes. "Hey, kid. Have you by any chance got some extra food on you? We're pretty damn hungry."

She shook her head. The rain had plastered her blonde hair to her forehead, and she was getting cold. The first boy sighed, the sound almost drowned out by the constant drip-patter-drip of rain around them. "Guess not. Thanks for visiting us, though. You should get back to your mother, she'd probably wondering where you are." He pointed off down the dismal sidewalk.

The girl started and ran off. The boys chuckled amongst themselves.

After a few more minutes of silence, the dog-like boy stood up, pushing the dog off his lap. "Shit man, I'm going back to the Konoha. We won't be getting anything in this shitty rain."

He walked a few steps toward the curb before half-turning, smirking a challenge. "You coming, or what?"

The other boy sighed in exasperation and stood up slowly. There was a quiet clacking sound from beneath his blanket as he moved. "Yeah, yeah, Kiba. I'm coming, calm the fuck down."

The taller boy shrugged. "Just making sure. Wouldn't want Shino-chan to fall asleep here, would we?"

Shino hmmphed. He joined Kiba at the curb, and the dog nuzzled his thigh. "Gerroff me, Akamaru! You spend your nights stuffing that stinky nose of yours god-knows-where on me, and I'm not having it in the daytime as well!"

The two hobos crossed the street, weaving their way between honking cars. The automobiles stretched in a sea to either side of them, the rain blurring them into multicolored splotches with blinking, glaring lights. When they reached the other side, Kiba pointed up front. "Let's take the bus. I don't feel like walking there."

Shino nodded his wholehearted agreement. This side of the street was actually a sprawling "park" of concrete statues and chunks, and the rain made it even more depressing than it usually was. Besides, Shino _hated _rain.

They walked to the bus stop, where a small three-walled shack -- concrete, of course -- stood as protection against the elements. A chipped and peeling sign at the curb proclaimed it to be "City Plaza". Shino's lips curled into a crooked grin. Oh, right. That was the concrete park's real name. Kiba and he just called it Suit Square.

He looked up at the skyscrapers that towered all around the square, blocking out all but a few patches of sad grey sky. It made him feel trapped. He hated this place anyway, the fake "park" of grey and depression, the constant drone of car engines, the click-clack, click-clack of high heels...

Kiba slapped his shoulder. '"Hey, Shino, you okay?"

He shook himself. "Yeah." It was just the rain. Drove him crazy and made him all mopy.

Kiba nodded and looked down at his shaggy-furred pet. Akamaru was busy gifting everyone in the concrete shed with his pathetic doggy-grin. The people there were mainly suits -- businessmen -- and were doing their best to avoid looking at the hobos. Kiba curled his lip slightly. He knew very well that he looked like a gutter rat.

He'd declined using a bit of Shino's blanket when the rain'd started, and as a result his blue T-shirt and jeans hung soaked and heavy on his thin frame. His trainers were more holes than fabric, and squelched ominously with each step. Akamaru also looked scruffy, though he was by far the most respectable of the three.

Suddenly, the dog barked joyfully and bounded off into the far corner of the bus stop shed. Kiba could vaguely see that his pet's goal was an old lady, but not much else, and he cursed under his breath. This could get him into serious trouble - he'd had to go to the Force once because Akamaru had gotten too close to some dude.

Kiba hurried after the dog, who was now rubbing his wet head into the old lady's hand. "I'm sorry, lady. He does that sometimes."

The grandma laughed a kid's laugh. Her hair was white and put up into an elaborate headdress, and she had a weird dot -- like the ones Indian women sometimes had -- in the middle of her forehead. "That's fine, kiddo. He's a very special dog, I can tell. Here buy yourself, him, and your freezing friend over there something to eat."

She rummaged in her purse and came up with a faded five-cel-chip. "I was lucky at the casino today. Whenever I'm lucky, it means something's gonna happen. Like this. I have a feeling this won't be the last time I see you... Ah! My bus! See you around, sweetie."

Kiba stared after her as several of the suits around him scurried with her into the bus. Had she just..._hit on him?_ Akamaru yipped in amusement beside him, and he shrugged, muttering, "Whatever. Weird."

Shino was still where he'd left him at the side of the bus stop shack, staring up at the bit of visible sky. The bus left with a screech, sending water splashing onto the sidewalk. The remaining suits jumped slightly, and Shino pulled his blanket tighter around himself. Kiba was pretty sure that the younger boy was glaring at the bus as it sped off among the traffic, but the goggles hid his eyes.

After a couple more minutes in the incessant rain, their bus came, and they used their ragged old chip-cards to fool the driver. They stayed downstairs. People stared, as always. Kiba grimaced inwardly. He didn't care about the hostile looks and the mutters, but he did care about standing in closed spaces. Especially if they were as ugly as this one.

The bus was dingy, peeling metal poles serving as handholds and plastic-covered seats home to who-knows-what. Not even Shino liked to think about the crawlies that made their nests in the lumpy upholstery of the City busses.

Thankfully it was only three stops through the monotonous, car-clogged grey streets with the bus, opposed to the twenty minutes it would have been walking. Shino snickered inwardly when a cool, clear woman's voice announced, "Hoor Street". The recorded bus announcements were possibly the only things that still called it Hoor Street. To everyone else, no matter how genteel, it was Whore Street.

They got off into more rain -- Shino hissed moodily -- and looked around, pretty much knowing what they'd find. In the rain, and it being barely four in the afternoon, Whore Street was empty and pretty much lifeless except for the prostitutes who made their homes there. Huddled groups of the sex workers filled up the spaces under awnings, on house's front steps, in wall niches.

Basically, whores that sold the same kind of sex made up the different cliques. The dominas and subs stayed at the bus stop shack, and the two hobos greeted the few of them that they knew. Farther down the street came the Lolitas -- they weren't Lolitas by age, more by temperament -- , who claimed the hollow beneath an apartment house's front steps as their own. Then the trannies, who laughed and joked raucously -- that was what they _always_ did, day and night -- beneath the overhanging roof of the ramen place.

Kiba and Shino passed them all by, heading for the building that was easily the brightest on Whore Street. And, holy shit, it really was _bright_.

Lurid, glowing pink shone out into the cascading rain and the deserted street. In big, obtrusive letters, a sign proclaimed, "Kakashi's Konoha Kink Shop". The shopfront was covered in black plastic, and blinking words announced, "Private video booths!", "All kinks!", "Video and DVD rental!" and more shit like that. Three steps led up to the small door in the middle of the shopfront, which was also papered black and had a _very_ small sign on it that disallowed anyone under the age of eighteen to enter. But, please note, it was _very small_.

An awning that was just as shockingly pink as the shop's sign hung over a space about five by eight meters large, shielding an area of the chipped and grimy sidewalk from the rain and whatever else. There was actually no need for the plastic overhang, but Kakashi, the Konoha's owner, had a soft spot for the clique that had taken up residence in front of his shop. He never admitted it of course, and whenever someone asked he'd sigh exasperatedly and say, 'The spool's stuck, I can't roll it back up. Those kids are really annoying, and I've been planning to get it fixed, but I'm so busy...'

But the silver-haired shopkeeper -- the silver-haired _pervert _shopkeeper, Shino told himself with a soft snigger -- was all bark and no bite, and the whores that slept under the awning had all been through enough to recognize true kindness when they saw it. Kakashi couldn't fool them, and he'd go through phases where he'd try his best to do so, then ruin all his effort and grumbling by inviting the clique to ramen.

The hobos and the dog reached the awning and nodded greetings to the kids relaxing on the ground. Shino went to the space Kiba and he'd reserved for themselves, flanking the shop stairs on the right. A row of glass boxes stood, arranged neatly, beneath the ledge formed by the shop window. Shino curled up in his blanket next to them, undoing similar containers from where they hung on his belt and over his shoulder. He smiled. They were really growing quickly!

Kiba squatted at one corner of the awning, too hyped up from the hours spent sitting on Suit Square to lie down and relax. He surveyed the kids lazing around fondly.

This group was Whore Street's most public secret. They were all legitimately registered in the Force's files, but one significant thing was faked; their age. All of them were either underage or just mature, and a helluva lot of customers got a kick out of that fact. And as a significant plus, they were all more or less pretty.

Opposite to Kiba and Shino's corner, two pink duffel bags sat, wide open and surrounded by a mess of lingerie and other slut wear. A little stash of vodka lay under the window ledge, and a thick layer of brightly patterned blankets lay beneath two slender, curvy forms. Tenten, fair-haired and tall, was reading a manga that looked like one of those pathetic romance things, wearing nothing but a tube top and hot pants in a poison green. Next to her, buxom Ino was playing a game on her glittering cell phone, wearing basically the same outfit in red. Her eyes kept flitting -- not very subtlely, no matter what she thought -- to the dark-haired boy lying a foot or so away.

The black-haired boy, whose name was Sasuke, was smoking with his eyes closed. He wore all black; tight black sweatshirt, faded black jeans, heavy black boots. The camping mat he was lying on had one other occupant, shorter and skinnier than the dark-haired kid. The shorter boy was deep asleep, his sharp, waifish features twisted into an uneasy frown. He had strange, thin scars on his cheeks that were reminiscent of whiskers. His thatch of spiky blonde hair was messy, and he burrowed into Sasuke's side, seeming incredibly vulnerable. His loose orange T-shirt and jeans made him look even more like a helpless little kitten. His name was Naruto.

Across from Sasuke and Naruto's mattress was a tangle of belongings, a single pillow, and the possibly most bored-looking boy in the world. His name was Shikamaru, and Kiba had yet to figure out whether he only _acted_ bored, or whether it was really his life's philosophy that anything beyond the minimal amount of exertion was too 'troublesome'.

There were two other members of the clique, but they didn't actually sleep here, sharing an apartment farther down Whore Street. They weren't that important anyways - not to Kiba at least. He thought they were just plain creepy. It was 2056, and they wore _bodysuits_. Help.

He sighed. He wasn't going to get any calmer by sitting and staring at the kids. But there was one thing...He grinned slyly, and walked over to where Shino was slowly but surely falling asleep. Tugging at a corner of the blanket, he muttered, "Let me under."

Shino complied with an unflattering remark, and Kiba slid into the blanket-cocoon with a sigh of contentment. He had two favorite things to do; watch the kids here laze around, and...this.

He hugged Shino hard, and the younger kid squawked indignantly. "The fuck! Kiba! You're soaking! Get out of that wet stuff!"

Kiba grinned toothily. "Is that an invitation?"

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All right. Just to make this clear:

- there will be other POVs(Kiba and Shino were simply the easiest to start with)

- this is a GaaNaru fic. Sasuke is not together with Naruto, no matter how much he wants to be.

- there will be other pairings (KakashiIruka for sure, possibly LeeNeji, maybe a het pair)

In case there are still any questions...well, you know what to do! the button's down there, waiting...waiting.. CLICK IT, PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ!


	2. Chapter 2

wow. Thanks for all the reviews!

°shudders in fright at the sight of Naruto Uzumaki's waving chopsticks°

Well, Naruto does not belong to me. Neither does Gaara. Or Sasuke. OR ANYONE IN THIS STORY!WHY DO YOU HAVE RUB IT IN LIKE THAT?

°pants heavily° there. got that over with.

Here we go!

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Whore Street

If anything, the rain had worsened with the blue-violet dusk and the sun's disappearance. Whore Street was a shallow river, and the rain splattered loudly on the Konoha's bright awning. The street had brightened with the gradual darkening of the sky, and now, at ten, it was a chaos of cars and blinking lights and the sultry voices of the prostitutes, muffled by the rain as they recited their prices.

A tall, silver-haired man leaned against the doorframe of the Konoha, making sure -- it was a reflex -- to cover up the 'no one under 18 may enter' sign with his body. He let his eyes wander over the mess under the awning and then up to the curb, where the group that spent their days lazing around in front of his shop was leaning over car windows, their clothes slick and heavy from the rain.

He leaned out a bit farther, looking to his left, and chuckled. Shino and Kiba were cuddled up in Shino's huge, multifunctional blanket, murmuring to each other in very soft voices. Kiba looked up and saw the silver-haired shopkeeper watching them. He grinned and called, "What, Kakashi? You jealous?"

Kakashi laughed and looked back onto Whore Street. "Nah, Kiba. Shino's too young for me. But thanks for offering."

Shino muttered something too quietly for Kakashi to hear it, and the shopkeeper laughed again. He scanned the curb, and his smile faded. Ino was just getting into a red car, her shiny red boots splashing through a puddle on the sidewalk. Not too far away, Shikamaru was leaning over a rolled-down window, and Kakashi knew for sure that he was mumbling, "I fuck and blow, for 5 cel. Can I get in?" Minimum effort.

Sasuke was leaning over another car, and was obviously not liking the things that the prospective client was saying, because he was shaking his head. He straightened and walked away to another car. A flash of orange moved in the blurring rain, and Kakashi watched as Naruto took Sasuke's place at the first car. A short exchange of words, and he was getting in.

The silver-haired man frowned. That kid was going to end up dead if he continued doing everything the customers wanted him to. But Kakashi knew he wouldn't ever tell him that, no matter how well he meant it. After all, there were times when he wanted to shout at all of these annoying, exhausting, and fucking _wonderful_ kids that they should go -- find work that didn't leave them broken and bleeding each night, find lovers that could show them that sex was something more than just a job, find _anything_ that would make them safer than they were here.

But he never did it. He supposed he loved them too much. Or something. God. Had he just really thought that? It was true, he sighed to himself. He really liked them all. And he would never even let the barest hint of disapproval show, because he knew they were much happier here than -- he guessed -- at home or wherever else they came from.

As if to prove Kakashi's point, Tenten's clear laughter sounded from the curb, cutting through the heavy sheets of rain. The Konoha's owner smiled to himself and went back into his dimly lit -- very sexy in reds and pinks -- store to read more of Icha Icha Paradise.

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I am well aware that this is a short chapter, but I'm planning on updating again later today, so...bear with me, all right?

And although those reviews were _very_ yummy, my stomach's bottomless! Down there! CLICK IT!


	3. Chapter 3

hmm...well, here it is. Naruto doesn't belong to me.

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Whore Street

Whore Street was quiet and deserted again, the sun's weak rays trying their best to pierce the heavy grey clouds. Thought they didn't really succeed in that, they had managed to chase away the night with its rough and cold customers in those sleek, anonymous cars. The early morning workers had left the apartment blocks already and had taken the bus to wherever they spent their days, and now, at eight, it was about time for the next rush hour.

Shino woke with a small shudder from his nightmares and lay still for a moment, disoriented. Then he relaxed, feeling Kiba's arms around him and Akamaru's wet snout on his hip. He tried to get back to sleep, but gave up on it after a few minutes and very carefully got up. Kiba was a bitch in the mornings, and Shino didn't like waking him.

He squatted down in front of his insect boxes, scanning them for any sign of something being wrong. Finding nothing, he stood and stretched before rummaging around in the army issue backpack he shared with Kiba, getting out a grey -- he wondered briefly whether they had anything that was still its original color -- T-shirt and slipping it over his head. His jeans were getting stiff from grime, he realized with a cheerless grin. On the streets, it took a while to notice stuff like that, even amongst this comparatively clean group.

Shino frowned, rolling the five-cel-chip that Kiba'd gotten from the old lady yesterday around in his fingers. He debated with himself whether he should go get breakfast for the crew. Of course, breakfast on Whore Street could mean only one thing; ramen. The ramen place was the only food place on the whole Street, unless you counted the weird stuff that you could get down at the Arcade.

He stepped over Kiba's sleeping form and into the weak warmth of the sun, deciding to go get the ramen after all. He scuffed his faded boots against the cracks in the sidewalk, wrinkling his nose a bit in disgust when he saw a used condom lying at the curb. God, he was glad he didn't whore himself out anymore.

Kiba and he'd met two years back, and the older kid had made him promise to stop whoring once they'd started...well, Shino wouldn't call it going out. The only dates they'd ever had were the long afternoons of sitting around, waiting for friendly passersby to take pity on them. But still, Kiba was one of the better things that had happened to Shino, and he was glad to have someone like him.

Shino reached the ramen place, and cast the trannies an amused glance. There five of them that slept on Whore Street, and their bodies were a big, tangled heap among a scattering of bright blankets, clothes, and bottles. They were all pretty nice, though Shino tried not to talk to them too often. They easily got touchy-feely.

He stepped up to the clean steel of the ramen place's counter, behind which the shop owner -- a friendly-looking man who never seemed to sleep -- waited expectantly. Shino didn't understand how the man could have such a boring job -- sitting around all day, waiting. It would have Shino crazy by the third hour.(1)

"I'd like a supersize tub of ramen and a supersize --"

"Hot chocolate. With seven plastic bowls and chopsticks. Got it, kiddo." The man grinned.

Shino offered him a slight smile. "Yeah."

He leaned against the warm counter and watched the first people of the eight o'clock rush hour leave their apartment buildings, the students and the businessmen mostly. A few of them got into cars and drove off, but mainly they flocked to the bus stop. They did their best to avoid looking at the groups of sleeping whores.

Shino rolled his eyes behind his goggles. The stupidest thing about the ignoring was that -- and he knew this for sure, he'd seen some of them with his friends -- not a few of the businessmen took advantage of Whore Street's selection of prostitutes.

He turned around as the ramen shopkeeper plunked a massive bag down on the counter behind him. "Makes two cel, kid."

Shino handed him the chip, and got three of the intricate one-cel-chips back. Hefting the bag and nodding to the ramen place dude in thanks, he made his way back to the Konoha. Heh. A five-cel-chip --- Shino wondered what had gotten into that old lady. You didn't just give five cel away. One cel maybe, two cel were already weird. _Five_ cel was just... hell, a fuck and a blowjob together cost five cel!

He reached the awning and maneuvered his way between the sleeping forms, dropping the heavy bag on the store steps. Taking out one of the plastic bowls and a pair of chopsticks, he opened the tub of ramen and scooped himself some into the bowl. He closed the tub again and began to eat.

He didn't mind ramen, but it was starting to go on his nerves. Actually, it was probably starting to go on everyone's nerves except for Naruto's. But then, Naruto loved ramen to death. Shino looked for the kid among the whores sprawled on the sidewalk, finding him -- predictably -- curled up next to Sasuke on their shared mattress. The blonde kid always slept the same way, his face buried under Sasuke's ribs and his body curled into a fetal position.

Sasuke, on the other hand, slept like the cool kid he was -- one arm thrown across his eyes, the other loosely curled around Naruto's shoulders. Shino sniggered inwardly. Basically the definition of 'Sleeping Bishounen'. Actually the black-haired kid wasn't really Shino's type -- he preferred Kiba's rough good looks to Sasuke's icy beauty --, but he was pretty popular with the customers.

Shino frowned suddenly. Wait... why was there less space under the awning than usual? Peering around to the shop window opposite the one Kiba and he slept under, he found the reason.

Tenten and Ino had fallen asleep while playing cards with Sasuke's expensive black deck -- a waste of money in Shino's opinion, but who was asking him? --, and the elaborate cards lay in a scattered mess around their cuddled up forms, clad only in bras and hot pants. Next to them on their blankets was another sleeping kid, wearing a dark skintight bodysuit. His black hair was cut like a bowl, and he had huge black eyebrows.

Shino cocked his head slightly. What was Lee doing here? He actually lived two houses down, with his caretaker Gai. The older man was Lee's sort-of-teacher in the 'arts of love', as he called it, and at night they whored here with the clique. Shino frankly thought they were missing a few thousand brain cells, but they were nice enough if you kept them away from the old ABBA recordings -- ugh.

Shino looked over at Shikamaru, who looked to be awake and staring up at the awning. The kid's complete lack of any kind of drive frightened him. It reminded him of...other times. Shikamaru spent his days staring up at the awning, grudgingly washing up at the Arcade at around five. Then he'd drag himself to the curb and somehow get customers. At four in the morning he'd plod back to his pile of stuff and lie down, and it'd start all over again.

Shino finished his bowl of ramen and made himself comfortable on the steps, gazing out at the street. By now, the eight o'clock rush hour was in full flow. He watched the people pass by, the sun not helping their dreary expressions as they dragged their way to the bus stop. The sidewalk was still wet from yesterday, and the puddles were splashing under the workers' and students' feet.

Lee stirred with a little sigh, and his eyes opened. He blinked a few times before sitting up. Then he stretched his arms with a huge yawn and looked up at Shino, who'd been watching him amusedly. "Morning, Shino."

"Morning. Why aren't you at home?"

The kid shrugged. "Master Gai had a guest, and I didn't feel like intruding, so I slept here."

In other words; Gai had had a lover over, Lee couldn't sleep because of the noise, and had sought refuge under the Konoha's (blessfully quiet) awning.

"Want ramen?"

The kid nodded and stood, walking over to the bag. He did the same that Shino had, filling himself a bowl. Shino'd have to share his bowl with Kiba, but that wasn't the end of the world. Lee sat back down on Ino and Tenten's blankets, eating quickly. He watched the people passing by as well, and the two kids -- three if you counted Shikamaru -- were quiet.

A strange pair of students, obviously related, came up the sidewalk. Lee hadn't seen them before on Whore Street, which was unusual since such _different_ people stood out easily among the dreary mass of the Street's other inhabitants. They both had straight black hair and milky white eyes, the boy tall and proud-looking and the girl trotting timidly behind him.

They reached the awning of the Konoha, and at their reaction to the sleeping whores Lee _knew_ that they were new on Whore Street. They didn't exactly stare, but they also didn't ignore them, their strange eyes skipping nervously over the half-dressed sleepers. Lee grinned up at them. "Morning!"

The tall kid started and looked away, but the girl nodded her head timidly and smiled, before hurrying after the boy who had continued walking. "Wait, Neji-kun!"

Lee laughed softly, and heard Shino chuckle beside him. The two kids shared a glance.

"Neji, huh?" Shino smirked. "Looks like he's quite a cold fish."

Lee frowned. Yeah, it did.

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(1): heh. that is what Shino does all day.

All right, for all of you that are waiting impatiently for Gaara to show up...it's happening next chapter, I PROMISE!

And now...you know what to do, don't you?

click...click...click...click...CLICK IT!


	4. Chapter 4

okay...working on GaaNaru in here(hopefully)...

Gimme reviews! I will not write if my review-eating stomach is empty!

Noooo, Naruto does not belong to me!

Many thankees to Arie Date for her help with this, and thnx to all you other wonderful reviewers!

dualism: your advice is really well-taken, but I was soooooooooo bored without my Gaanaru...

hehe...here ya go, ladies and gents.

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Whore Street

Naruto snarled moodily at Sasuke as the black-haired boy accidentally brushed his arm with the tip of his cigarette. The taller kid just raised an eyebrow. "Watch it, dobe."

Naruto hmmphed and rolled over so that his back was to Sasuke. It had started raining again at around eleven, and the constant patter of the water on the Konoha's awning really went on his nerves. Besides, he was aching from one of the customers he'd gotten the night before, and the pain made him even grouchier.

But, as a plus, he'd had ramen for breakfast! Not that he didn't have ramen every day, but -- he could be happy about it, couldn't he?

Sasuke blew a smoke cloud over Naruto's shoulder. "Want to go and get cleaned up, dobe?"

Naruto stared out into the hazy rain. No, not really, but what else was there to do? "Okay."

They packed their shoulder bags with soap and towels and got up. Sasuke lit up a new cig -- he was like fucking chimney! -- and they left with a couple of explanatory mutters.

They walked through the rain in the opposite direction of the bus stop, and Naruto wrinkled his forehead. Why had Sasuke just lit that cig? It was only gonna splutter and die out here. The blonde looked over at his friend, and sure enough -- the black-haired boy was leveling a cold glare at the cancer stick in his hand.

Naruto laughed. "Shit teme, even I knew that one. Quit looking like it's the end of the world and hurry up. I don't wanna freeze and die dirty."

Sasuke transferred his cold gaze to the blonde. Naruto laughed again. The dark-haired boy muttered something that Naruto ignored pointedly, and they continued on down the sidewalk.

Past the Konoha were a few other groups of whores, and the two kids nodded cool greetings to the ones they knew. The wasted, sick-looking junkies were huddled under the scant protection of an apartment building's overhanging roof, bickering with each other in their raspy, shrill voices. Naruto shuddered inwardly. They were just plain disgusting.

A bit further on came the most pitiful group on Whore Street; the _old_ prostitutes. The old women -- for some reason there were no men among them -- didn't work at night anymore, and were actually just beggars, but they seemed to consider it an insult not to be called whores, so everyone did them the favor. They whiled their days away in a _really_ cramped and goddamn depressing crack in the wall, cackling insanely and muttering to themselves.

The squat, flat-roofed building right next to the one where the old women slept was a break in the tall, grey facades of Whore Street, though it couldn't hold a candle to the Konoha's brightness. It was painted a baby blue and had a blinking sign that said, "ARCADE" in an annoying kiddy-font. The two boys pushed open the greasy glass doors and went inside.

Naruto sighed in relief as they entered the dry Arcade, though the place usually disgusted him. They had to stop for a few moments to let their eyes adjust to the murky miasma of smoke, sweat and alcohol that Sarutobi, the Arcade's owner, passed off as 'air'. Game machines glowed and chimed in the half-dark thick with unlucky men's muttered curses. Seven rows of machines stood in the gloom, the chink of coins sounding at periodic intervals along with an occasional shout of anger or elation --though fury was more common that happiness.

Along the right-hand side of the room was a long bar, its dirty counter sticky with the accumulated dirt and spills of decades. Weak lights lit it up, hanging from a metal bar over it. Sasuke headed for it, and as he followed Naruto realized that his friend had just lit _another_ cig. Rolling his eyes, he slipped onto one of the bar stools. Stupid teme.

Sasuke stayed standing, and was careful to avoid touching the grimy linoleum of the bar. They waited for a few seconds until Naruto, shouted, "Get out here, old man!"

Sasuke grinned a bit as the yell worked and a cursing, bowed figure shuffled to the counter from the door in the wall that led to the kitchen. Sarutobi had a wrinkled, high-cheekboned face, and he wore a constantly pissed-off expression. He glared over the counter. "What?"

Naruto snickered. Sarutobi was like Kakashi, all growls and snarls on top and nice grandpa underneath. The blonde tossed a one-cel-chip onto the bar. "Our week's pay for the bathroom."

Sasuke also dropped a chip onto the linoleum, and Sarutobi's glare intensified. "Well then, what're you waiting for? Go!"

The boys laughed soundlessly, turning away from the bar and walking deeper into the Arcade's smoky recesses. They reached the door labeled 'WC' and went in, flipping the light switch. The neon shone unforgivingly over the narrow, ugly room's scuffed and cracked tiles, the dull steel fixtures, the peeling puke-colored paint on the watermarked walls and dirty stall doors.

Sasuke grimaced. Sarutobi never bothered to have the place cleaned, and every customer out there at the game machines knew very well that the toilets weren't meant for the Arcade's gambling clientele. Sarutobi might be a nice guy somewhere inside, but he was stingy as fuck and jumped on profit whenever he saw the opportunity to make some. He'd turned off the hot water for the bathroom, stopped repairing it, stopped cleaning it, taken out the soap dispensers, and for some reason the whores living on the Street _still_ paid him a cel a week to use it.

Sasuke stubbed his cigarette out on the wall and put his bag on the left side of the row of sinks, where two of the faucets had stopped working weeks ago. He kicked off his boots and began undressing, pulling his sweater off. He rummaged in his bag, getting out his soap and his threadbare towel before sliding out of his pants. He'd decided last year already that underwear was an unnecessary hassle. Bending over one of the sinks, he turned the faucet on and splashed himself with the icy water. Soaping himself down, he let his eyes slide over to Naruto, watching him in the filthy wall-to-wall mirror.

The blonde was just starting to undress -- that dobe could be so _slow_ at times -- and Sasuke, as always, found himself unable to tear his gaze away. Naruto had dropped his T-shirt to the floor -- ugh...on _this _floor -- and was getting his soap and towel out. His smooth, tawny skin managed to look good even in the sickly neon light, the many pale ridges of scar tissue on his back and arms -- it was suspiciously regular on the arms, a line of evenly spaced cuts on either side -- somehow making him seem more attractive through the secrets behind them. His thin frame was almost unhealthily so, his cheekbones sharp against his skin and giving him an elfin air.

Naruto finished getting his wash stuff out and leaned over another sink, turning on the water. He didn't notice Sasuke's scrutiny, and the black-haired boy didn't mind that fact at all, continuing to stare at the blonde. He was rinsing himself off by now -- he was always finished first in the bathroom. His eyes followed the slim neck down to the hollow where the blonde's heartbeat pounded against the skin, and drifted lower, past the cold-hardened nipples and along the golden line of hair between the easily discernible ribs, the sharply jutting hipbones, to the beginning of the golden curls that showed above the loose jeans.

Sasuke sighed inwardly. Every time they washed up in here, he had to suppress the urge to ravish the blonde right then against the sinks. It was agony, but Sasuke wouldn't ever give up these possibilities to look at Naruto's body. It was amazing how oblivious Naruto was to all of it. But then, he probably just didn't expect it.

Naruto had appeared at the Konoha last year, obnoxious and irritating and fucking desirable. He'd somehow gotten here from Slum Street -- he was always infuriatingly vague when it came to the past, even though Sasuke tried to be careful with what he was asking, knowing very well that some questions hurt badly no matter how well-meant they were. Sasuke had wondered how the hell he could be so...lively, coming from Slum Street.

Slum Street was every whore's nightmare. More a quarter than a street, it was the end of the road for most runaways and those addicts that needed their drugs so badly that they'd do anything for them. It was the embodiment of all the worst fears of a sex worker; pimps, brothels, no money, dirt, disease, slavery.

Whore Street was close to the City center, and thus the Force was a bit more careful here, making sure that everyone was at least registered and disease-free. Pimps made no profit here, because the money they had to pay in Force bribes was at least ten times that what they paid on the outskirts. For example on Slum Street.

Sasuke finished rinsing off and began drying himself. Despite the dobe's stupidity and the way he seemed hellbent on annoying the dark-haired boy, they'd become good friends, even if it didn't seem like it at first glance. Sasuke adamantly refused to examine his feelings for the dobe any further, because it was much simpler this way.

Once he was dry, he dressed quickly and lit a cig, inhaling deeply. He packed his back and said, "I'll go back to the Konoha, dobe."

Naruto waved him off. "Whatever, teme."

The blonde put his head under the stream of icy water, feeling the suds of his shampoo/soap -- an amazingly practical invention -- run down his face. Waiting a few moments to make sure Sasuke wasn't coming back for some reason, he turned the water off and picked up his towel. After drying his upper body and his hair -- wincing occasionally when he encountered a bruise or scrape -- he stepped out of his jeans and began washing the other half of his body. This hurt more, and was the reason why Naruto'd waited to undress fully until Sasuke had left.

His thighs and the skin just below his hips were badly bruised, a sickly blue-green-yellow mess. He snarled softly as an image of the responsible client flashed into his mind. No, that wouldn't do at all. If there was anything important that Naruto had picked up in his puny fifteen years of life, then it was the knowledge that remembering who's fault it was never ended well. Especially not in this business; if he ever got that customer again, he'd freeze up and that would result in the dude getting angry...well, it was complicated, but Naruto had felt the consequences of such things often enough to shake the images of the customer away.

He carefully washed himself, hissing a bit whenever he touched an open welt. Hn. How the hell had the dude managed that? He'd only -- Naruto stopped that thought right there.

The blonde finished with the washing and toweled himself down. He dressed again and packed his stuff up, turning off the light and leaving the bathroom. He wrinkled his nose as the thick air of the Arcade's main room assaulted his nostrils, and walked quickly through the bleeping and clanging gloom to the doors.

He glared out through the grimy glass. Why couldn't autumn in the city be like in the virtvids(1)? Like, pretty red-leaved trees and cold wind, and that's it. Then you wake up one morning , and there's a pristine blanket of snow outside the window. Naruto grinned at the thought. As if the City even _had_ trees. And pristine snow...ha. Good joke!

He pulled the doors open and slipped out, feeling goosebumps rise on his arms at the combination of the lingering cold of his washing up and the freezing rain. He trudged off down the drowning sidewalk, fingering the chips in his pocket to see whether he had enough for a bowl of ramen. One, two, three, one five-cel-chip, and another three one-cel-chips. Oh yeah. A grin spread over his face. Ramen!

He glanced at the old whores as he passed them. One of them was reading out loud, some stupid romance poetry stuff. Ugh. He didn't like all this talk of romance. After all, it was actually all simply a means to one end; sex. And sex was _very_ overrated. In-out, in-out, a distinctly unflattering noise, and sticky stuff all over you. Honestly. Not exactly worth five cel in his opinion, but...he wasn't complaining. Whatever floated his customers' boats. If they wanted to pay him five cel for getting wet and gluey, they were welcome to.

He looked up in surprise as a window slid up with a creak somewhere to his left. Squinting through the rain, he made out a pale face and black hair before the person disappeared again. Weird. Who opened their window in the rain? Not that he knew much about windows, but still. He shrugged slightly and walked on. The junkies were still croaking insults at each other and fighting about a -- as far as Naruto could tell -- stuffed animal.

He laughed under his breath. The junkies always reminded him of the rare funnish times on Slum Street. It was really relaxing to get excited -- hyper, angry or happy, it didn't matter -- about the stupidest things. It easily got a person's mind off of... things.

He could see the Konoha's awning by now, the shrill color hurting his eyes even from this distance. What _was_ Kakashi's obsession with pink anyway? He was fucking crazy about -- the shop was pink inside, too, and the sign...well. The sign spoke for its irritating, blinking, annoying and sleep-depriving self.

He frowned up ahead. There was a dark green Force car parked at the curb, and several uniform-clad men were standing on the sidewalk. What was the Force doing here? There had been no trouble on the Street for quite a while, as far as he knew.

Naruto hurried up a bit, curious. The closer he came, the more he could see through the rain. There were three uniformed Forcers on the sidewalk, and he thought he could see another person between them. A fifth man, wearing a dark suit and looking somehow familiar, stood on the steps of the apartment building across in front of the parked car and was fumbling with the lock.

Naruto walked a bit closer, and recognized the dude on the steps. It was Iruka-san, Kakashi's crush. The man always walked by the shop in the evening, and Kakashi always made sure to sit on his front steps when he did. They'd exchanged nervous greetings, and Iruka-san would walk on. It was pretty funny, actually.

Naruto grinned. "Hey, Iruka-san! Didja get yourself arrested?"

The man straightened with a weird expression on his face, and smiled weakly. "Heh...No, Naruto, I didn't get arrested. I got a lift home."

"Ah." There was something significant about that statement, but he didn't feel like puzzling it out just now, and scanned the situation. Sure enough, the three Forcers had someone in their midst. Naruto registered red hair and height before he got stuck in the eyes. Yes, literally _stuck in the eyes_. As in pinned to the spot by green, thickly kohl-lined insanity. It freaked him for exactly ten seconds, and then he regained his composure. Slum Street strategy number 1!

Get hyper!

"Hey! Who're you?" he shouted with a wide grin.

Naruto heard a strangled gasp from Iruka-san, still on the steps behind him, and saw the Forcers around the dude stiffen and go pale. Hmm. Interesting. What the _hell _was going on?

He stepped closer to the dude and cocked his head. Around then he noticed the lasercuffs binding the dude's hands together. "Ah...so _you're _the one who got arrested, not Iruka-san!"

The eyes widened briefly and then narrowed, and Naruto wondered whether he'd just done something _very_ wrong. Then they dragged -- and yes they did drag, like a heavy blanket -- themselves up and down Naruto's soaking form. Naruto shrugged. Two could play that game. He started with the dude's forehead, where a silvery scar etched itself into the skin below the bright hair, and continued with the eyebrows. Um, correction. The not-there-eyebrows. He skipped the eyes and was just about to start on the chest and neck when he heard Sasuke's cold voice.

"What's going on here, dobe? I heard you shouting. Get yourself in trouble with the Force?"

Sasuke took the scene in with a raised eyebrow. Iruka-san on the steps -- the dark-haired boy nodded a greeting --, three uncomfortable-looking Forcers, a hyper Naruto (It was in his eyes. Whenever the dobe got hyper, his eyes went a couple shades darker. Sasuke had often wondered whether they would do that during sex too -- ah...off track.) and a redhead who was...

UNDRESSING NARUTO WITH HIS EYES!

Sasuke glared at the oblivious dobe. "What's going on?" he repeated, a bit of a growl in his voice.

Naruto looked bewildered at his tone. "Uh... I was just talking to him," and he gestured casually at the redhead, whose crazy gaze met Sasuke's eyes briefly. The thin lips curved into an insulting grin.

Sasuke felt his heart quicken. He was getting angry. "Oh, really, dobe? Just _talking_?"

Naruto's expression got even more confused. "Uh, Sasuke? You okay?"

Sasuke exploded. "Oh _yeah_, I'm feeling fucking _super_, dobe! _Fucking fantastic!"_

Naruto's eyes widened and he took a step back. Sasuke turned away from the blonde as a soft hiss reached his ears. He smirked lazily. "Got a problem, eyeliner-man?"

He heard Iruka-san groan softly, and then the two of them were at each other's throats, the Forcers prudently jumping back from the snarling, scratching mess they suddenly became. Sasuke could hear Naruto's confused voice in the background and more of Iruka-san's despairing groans. He struggled and writhed against the other kid, wondering for a split second where the lasercuffs had gone as a very _free_ hand grabbed his collar. He managed to pull it away and sink his teeth into a wiry forearm.

"...TEME!" Naruto's shout finally penetrated the red haze in his mind, and he pushed the redhead away, wiping his mouth on a sleeve. The dude looked infuriatingly unruffled, not a mark on him, and Sasuke, still in a rage... hissed at him.

The Forcers quickly moved in and grabbed the redhead's arms as he readied himself to lunge again., but the kid shook them off with frightening ease. They charged at each other again, and this time Sasuke felt his fist connect solidly with a cheek. The redhead fell back a bit, only for a split second -- but it was enough for Naruto to throw his skinny self between them.

"Quit it, goddamnit!" He yelled, his eyes freezing both of them in place.

Naruto watched as Sasuke's eyes slowly went back to normal, then glanced at Green-Eyes. _He_ wasn't looking anything close to the way he'd appeared when Naruto'd first seen him. His eyes were a deep teal now, and he didn't look like he was about to calm down.

"Hey, dude. Calm d -- "

He gasped.

It had gone to fast for him to really register it, but he suddenly found himself pushed up against the Force car with that insane glare drowning him. The redhead's mouth barely moved, and his snarl was just for Naruto's ears. The sound sent a shiver through the blonde's spine, and he gasped again. The teal wouldn't let him go, pulling him in deeper and deeper...

Just as quickly as it had started, the moment was over.

Naruto vaguely felt himself fall to the sidewalk and heard Sasuke's worried voice echo somewhere. He pushed the dark-haired boy away and stood slowly, watching detachedly as the Forcers refastened the lasercuffs on the redhead's wrists and led him into Iruka's apartment building. He ignored Sasuke's questions and concerned murmurs, tilting his face up to the rain.

What had just happened?

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heh.

alrighty, you know the drill. many reviews means full asti-stomach, full asti-stomach means new chappie.


	5. Chapter 5

uh...wow. I feel so loved! Thuganks to all these great reviews! And thanks again to Arie Date for her great help!

note to Forcers: I'm aware it got a bit confusing. Forcers are cops. You know, the Force is the police Force and blah. °sweatdrops° heh. Sounds a bit Star-Wars now that I think about , but...

As for why Gaara got arrested...°cackles°...maybe for raping Naruto? nononono, dat was a joke. forget about dat. °looks mysterious° All will be revealed when the time is right...

Munchies and soft drinks will be handed out to all who attend the show AND review. No ramen for the ones who don't give feedback.

No, Naruto doesn't belong to me. And you should all be glad about that, because if he did, there'd be no series. I'd keep him ALL TO MYSELF!°laughs insanely°

well, then sit back and...do whatever you do.

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Whore Street

Shikamaru grimaced inwardly. Did they always have to be so loud? It was damn troublesome. He shifted on his blanket-bed and tried to muffle the noise with his pillow. It didn't help much.

"Answer me, dobe!" Sasuke sure had something up his ass today. Shikamaru didn't mind him using Naruto as a stress-relief, but couldn't they be a bit quieter about it? He snorted softly as the absurdity of that thought became clear. Naruto and Sasuke? Be quiet during a fight? Pah.

Sasuke wasn't actually that loud, but his hissing and snarling and whatnot easily got annoying. Naruto...

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, TEME! CAN'T YOU LEAVE IT WELL ENOUGH ALONE NOW? THIS IS THE THIRD FUCKING TIME YOU'VE STARTED ON IT!"

...well, that spoke for itself, didn't it?

Shikamaru glanced over at the two. Naruto was actually _off_ the mattress, which was pretty rare unless he was getting ready to go somewhere, standing with his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed to sapphire slits. He must have just gotten up or something, because Sasuke was still sitting down.

The black-haired boy was smoking -- when didn't he? -- and leaning on one raised knee. He glared up at Naruto, and hissed -- Shikamaru resisted the urge to roll his eyes; was he a snake or what the fuck was his problem?--, "Well, shit, what do you want me to do, dobe? Say oh great, Naruto's got a new friend? He got out of lasercuffs, dammit! And you can't truthfully tell me that you think he's okay up here...his eyes were on you fucking long enough for you to notice that he's _not_."

Naruto threw his hands up in the air. It was troublesome and annoying, but Shikamaru was pretty sure that, in his position, he would've done exactly the same. Not that he ever got into situations like that. They took too much energy.

Hmm...when had it actually started? He turned around again, preferring the rain to Sasuke's glower. Probably at twelve or something. They went out to the Arcade to clean up, Sasuke came back first -- as almost always -- , twenty minutes later the whole group under the awning could hear the blonde shouting somewhere down the Street, Sasuke went -- trying to look uninterested -- to investigate, and...

...well, yeah. And what?

Shikamaru had no idea, but when they'd come back a quarter of an hour later, Sasuke'd had scrapes all over his face and Naruto had looked like he'd just smoked some of Ino's best shit, all glazed over eyes and flushed cheeks. And in the three hours since, Sasuke'd been constantly asking the blonde stuff like "What did he do at the car?" and blah. Fuck, Shikamaru would be long gone if he were Naruto.

Thankfully he wasn't.

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Okay, this was a short chappie for Shikamaru-sweetie. Next chapter: ...dunno. But it'll be up today, no worries.

I'm hungry again, so CLICK!


	6. Chapter 6

hehe...first worknight here, and maybe a nice juicy bit of LeeNeji. I'll see how it comes out.

Thankees to the reviewees and to Arie Date.

LUV YA ALL!

°shifts from foot to foot° °sighs° no, Naruto does not belong to me...

randomness: I'm listening to Lordi. They rock. Go troll costumes! Oh, now it's Subway to Sally. Oh well, they rock too. Go Middle Ages costumes! And leather!

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Whore Street

Well, at least it wasn't raining. Naruto squinted up the street to see whether there was a new car coming in somewhere. He didn't like all the bright lights, and the puddles still lay on the ground. He'd already soaked his trainers, which he'd actually managed to get dry after this afternoon.

Yeah, after Sasuke went crazy on Green-Eyes. Teme.

Naruto tossed the thought away. Focus! A lost customer is a lost five cel! As he walked to a free car -- sleek and black, one of those new models -- , he wondered a bit what he actually needed these five cel for. Hell, yeah, there were whores who saved religiously to get apartments and safe, normal lives and fucking shit like that. Naruto wasn't one of those. He liked the idea of Kiba and Shino's lifestyle much more.

But whoring was...well, it was pretty much his life. He didn't remember much of what came before Slum Street, and he was so used to it that he didn't really mind it anymore. Usually.

He leaned over the car window, and it rolled down slowly. "Hey. Would you like some company?"

A cold, soft voice said, "How much?"

Naruto resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "As much as it is everywhere on the Street. Three for a fuck, two for a blowjob, and three for each kink."

"Get in."

Naruto complied, scanning the car surreptitiously. He hadn't been in one of these new models yet. Looked pretty cool. Everything was black except for the glowing control thingies and the green digits of the clock (12:13), and it reminded him a bit of Sasuke. Yeah, Sasuke, that bitchy teme who couldn't drop a subject to save his li -- Naruto returned his mind to work.

"Do you want to go somewhere or stay in the car? There's a parking lot past the Arcade."

The revving of the engine was the only answer, and Naruto resisted rolling his eyes once more. What was supposed to be sexy about a growling car? He glanced at the customer, though it was hard to make out any details in the dark car. The dude seemed tallish, and slender; and that was about all the blonde could see.

Whore Street went by in a hectic blur of lights and expectant figures at the curb, and then they were passing by the Arcade. The dude turned right three houses after the long, low building, onto the bustling parking lot.

The lot had been put there by the City years ago. It never got cleaned up, and Naruto was sure that there were still used condoms from the last decade lying somewhere under the thin layer of gravel. It was deserted during the daytime, but at night it filled up with customers and their rentboys and -girls.

The customer stopped the car and turned the engine off. Naruto took this as his cue. "What do you want, then?"

There was no spoken answer, but Naruto got a reply soon enough. This time he didn't hesitate to roll his eyes. For the customer to have seen him, he would have needed eyes at a very weird place, so the blonde didn't care. He managed to shift so that he had a bit more leverage. Ignoring the stick shift -- this was a _new_ model? The fuck was a stick shift doing in here? Was this a new style, like a revival? If it was, then Naruto's ribs were in for a lot of abuse -- prodding his side, he got to work.

The dude soon let go of his hair and got him to straddle his lap. Naruto mentally added up the cel he'd get from this as he undressed. Did the stick shift count as a kink? He stifled a chuckle and got out a condom and lube.

The dude was panting heavily by now, and Naruto took pity on him, slipping the condom over and quickly doing the lube thing before sitting down. As usual -- this got another eye roll from the blonde -- , the client groaned. How charming. Naruto moved his hips teasingly.

"Fuck..."

"Yeah, that's what we're doing," Naruto muttered under his breath.

The kid quickened his pace a bit, and the customer gripped his hips hard, forcing him to do it rougher and take him in deeper. Naruto bit back a hiss of pain when the hands descended exactly on the bruises he had from the last night.

The customer's hands suddenly held him in place, keeping him from moving. Naruto frowned. "Wha -- "

The dude didn't give Naruto time to finish his question, lifting him off of himself easily and pushing him down into the passenger seat. This time Naruto bit back a laugh. God, make it complicated why don't you...He watched as the dude paused, probably adjusting the condom, before sliding back into him.

But when the client started moving again, all thoughts of mirth fled and hid. Naruto cried out sharply as pain ripped through him. What -- it felt like little _hooks, _tearing into him. The dude must've -- he whimpered at the next movement -- put something on himself when he'd paused in the dark.

"He...you like that, don't you?" The cold voice whispered breathlessly.

He forced himself to stay calm, to not struggle. Struggling only made guys like these worse. Shit! Why was it always him? Had he angered someone up there?

He gasped in pain as another thrust came, and realized that this was going to take a _long _time.

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well...yeah. LeeNeji is most definitely next chappie, I'm not shittin' you. It's comin' up in a bit...

oh, and before anyone asks, a cel is worth about five euro - so like, six or seven dollars(?). Thus it's not as cheap as it sounds.

well, go on. CLICK.


	7. Chapter 7

Umm...ya know, I'm sitting here at five-thirty in the afternoon and realizing as I check my hit counts-- all my reviewers live thousands of km away. ha...the power of the internet transcends AAAAAAAAAALL!°cackles°

naruto doesn't belong to me.

randomness: listening to Lordi again. haaaaaaaaah...would trolls fit into the story? And Tanzwut's coming on now...latin chants rock too!

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Whore Street

"I won't be driving you back, kid. I've gotta be home in fifteen minutes." The man said gruffly.

Lee shrugged and took his hint. "That's fine."

He slid out of the car, tugging at his bodysuit to straighten it. He glanced around the parking lot, which was full of cars, engines either idling or off. Two automobiles were just pulling out, and another driving in from the Street.

Lee made his way out, the damp gravel crunching under his feet. A drunk stumbled out of the Arcade's glass doors as he reached them, reeking of alcohol and sweat. Lee curled his lip and navigated his way around him. He went on, passing the snoring group of old whores.

It was pitch-black out, and the long line of cars only started further up the Street, close to the junkies' hang out, so no blinking tail-lights intruded on the silence just yet. Lee raised his arms, stretching. He'd gone back to Master Gai and his apartment soon after finishing his breakfast with Shino at the Konoha this morning. Thankfully his Master's lover had been gone by then, and Lee had been able to get a good day's sleep. Or at least enough that he could work well tonight.

It seemed that he'd missed something significant at the Konoha, though, because Ino and Tenten had been gossiping an awful lot at the curb about some sort of fight between Sasuke and Naruto. Too bad he hadn't left a bit later! He was really curious as to what was going on, but despite the girls' giggling and whispering they had about as much of an idea as he did about it all. So the only way to figure it out seemed to be asking one of the two -- Sasuke or Naruto.

Sasuke had been looking murderous, though, sweetening his voice only for customers, and Lee hadn't felt like being stabbed with a burning cig. And Naruto... Lee stopped short. He hadn't seen the blonde since shortly after midnight.

That was strange. One hour without seeing someone again was acceptable, maybe even two if you had conflicting customers. But four hours? A slight pang of worry hit him, but he brushed it aside. Whore Street was safe. The only thing that could really happen was that you got bruised by an overzealous client.

Well, Lee mused with growing alarm, that was all that could happen to people like Master Gai, Sasuke and himself. Naruto was a different matter. The blonde had less reservations that the others in the group, probably because of his time on Slum Street. He did things that Lee wouldn't do for an original ABBA vinyl disc.

Lee shivered a bit. Hewas probably just over-reacting, he told himself firmly. Naruto was probably just tired and had gone to sleep early at the Konoha -- yeah, _right. _As if Naruto would ever stop working just because he was tired. Lee frowned, telling the niggling, doubting voice to be quiet, and started off again.

Shortly before he reached the junkies' currently deserted hangout, a sound to his left made him look up. The apartment building here was dark, as it should've been -- it _was_ four in the morning, after all --, but a window on the first floor was open. A person was sitting on the sill, facing towards the busy end of the Street.

Lee was pretty sure he recognized the long black hair and the slender build, and when the person turned to look at him, his suspicions were confirmed by the milky eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness. He stopped for the second time, casting the dude a nervous smile. In the silence that followed, Lee became aware of the red and yellow lights that shone, blinking, onto him -- the line of customers' cars started a few meters away. The occasional revving sound of an engine and the growl of passing cars didn't really penetrate the quiet.

After a while, the dude -- Neji? -- returned his smile.

Lee cocked his head. "Isn't it a bit late? You go to school, don't you?" The moment the words were out, he regretted them -- they sounded really _patronizing_.

The other kid shrugged and nodded. "Yeah. Can't sleep with all this blinking."

Lee grinned. "Oh, I know that. When we moved here, my teacher and I couldn't sleep right for nights. I mean, the nights when we didn't..." He realized he was babbling.

"Work?" Neji smiled a bit.

Lee nodded. "Yeah. But my friends are even worse off. With the sleeping, I mean. The lights are always blinking directly into their bedroom, kind of."

Neji looked slightly bewildered. "You mean the ones in front of the shop? But you sleep their too, don't you?"

Lee shook his head. "Not usually. My teacher and I have an apartment across the Street. You moved here new?"

The black hair swung a bit as he nodded. "Yeah."

"Like it?"

The kid shifted. "It's...new."

Lee laughed. "Right. Well, I've got to get back to work. See you around, hopefully!"

Neji nodded, and Lee started to walk toward the brightly lit part of Whore Street, but turned for a second to call back, "My name's Lee. And for the not-sleeping... try counting whores."

He heard a soft laugh behind him, and smiled slightly as he passed the junkies' place and reached the Konoha. Here, he started worrying again.

Naruto and Sasuke's mattress was very empty.

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OH MY GOD! THAT WAS SOOOO FUCKING HARD TO WRITE!

°breaks down into tears of exhaustion°

But...next chappie will be more GaaNaru yummyness.

Please review this and tell me whether it's any good. I'd thought this would be the easiest couple...if it isn't good, then I'll make it to LeeNeji friendship and that's it.

oh, and is anyone actually wondering where Sakura got to? °grins evilly°


	8. Chapter 8

hey!I am starting this chappie at 7:24 pm. This is a very stupid thing to do, since the laptop is my mother's and in her room and she comes home btw. 8 and 8:30 and I will not have it finished then and because I can't write yaoi in my mother's presence I will not finish it until she's left for work tomorrow.

Why did I just tell you that? Because I'm OBSESSED with this fic!

Working on next GaaNaru in here.

Thankees to all the reviewees and Arie Date(though we haven't been in touch for a bit)

randomness(actually the first rant also belongs to this as well): listening to oomph, "eine Frau spricht im Schlaf" They rock. Ah, now it's sexy Ville Valo with HIM and "Razorblade Kiss". Not bad either. °squeal°

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Whore Street

"..._ruto? Naruto! _Are you all right? Naruto!"

He rose slowly out of the blissful blackness of unconsciousness, dimly registering Iruka-san's voice. It sounded so far away... He heard the urgency in it and started to move into wakefulness, wanting to reassure the man.

Bad idea. _Really _bad idea.

Agony enveloped him, stabbing between his legs and tearing over his back and ripping through his thighs and burning over his throat and wrists. He vaguely heard someone shriek hoarsely, and when Iruka-san's voice came again, sounding surprised and tense, he realized it was himself screaming.

"Naruto! What's wrong?"

He wanted to curl up, to hide from the pain, but moving hurt even more. He heard his cries die down to whimpers and felt moisture on his cheeks. Wiping it away wasn't an option. He tried to shift back into the warm darkness, tried to flee the aches and stings and pangs, but Iruka-san's voice kept him in his agonizing half-awake state, farther away physically now, but just loud enough to keep Naruto's consciousness from escaping into safe numbness.

"...stay here with him while I... watch him!... last time...shame on the Force..."

And then the deep, urgent voice was gone, and Naruto was free...free to leave the hurt. He heard himself sigh through the thick wall of dimness that still held him away from full awareness and let himself go --

A hand gripped his shoulder and he was ripped to complete consciousness, abruptly and painfully. He cried out again, and this time he heard himself clearly, felt his raw throat muscles twinge from overuse and the cool air on his parched lips and wet cheeks. The hand disappeared, and Naruto felt a shift in the air -- someone was in front of him. He opened his eyes the tiniest bit, still sobbing from the deep aches everywhere.

Green. No, teal. Something in between. He didn't care, just happy that the pain had dulled, insignificant next to the flood of something-in-between-green-and-teal. He gladly let himself drown in it, suffocate in it, die in it, _anything_ to stop the hurting.

The cold, numbing green disappeared suddenly, and he moaned, agony slamming into him again. His eyes closed. Gravel shifted and ground, clothes shifted, men grunted in exertion somewhere above him.

He heard them speaking, "Goddamnit, Kenji, watch him better. Who knows what he'll do if he gets loose again."

"How the hell does he get out of the cuffs, anyway? Fucking crazy creep."

"He doesn't even notice the lasers. Hell, look at his wrists."

Gasps and a, "Fuck!"

"Shit, man...you need serious help for up there, you know that?"

More gasps, and the crunch of gravel. "Hey! What do you think you're do -- "

"Leave it, man. As long as he's not cutting anything up or shit like that. Hell, even if, it's just a whore. And an underage one at that."

"How the fuck do you know he's underage? Spent time with him, have you?"

Gravel was still crunching, and the air changed again. Naruto opened his eyes again -- this time completely -- and the last thing he heard before cold unfeeling green washed over him was a stammered, "Hell, no, man...e-everyone knows that..."

He let out a hoarse snicker. As if. He recognized the voice from somewhere...most definitely a client. He sighed, managing to shift so that he could have more of the green. The movement pulled a strangled hiss from his chapped lips, but it was worth it. His eyes roved to the scar on the pale forehead, to the crimson spikes of hair, and back to the emerald -- teal -- in-between. Whatever.

The redhead was squatting next to him, his hands cuffed by humming lines of red laser-light. Naruto watched, distracted from the pain, as the hands simply...pulled apart. Through the lasers, which must've hurt like who-knows-what. The face staring down at him didn't even flinch.

One the men standing off to Naruto's other side -- he was pretty sure they were the Forcers from the last time -- must have heard the little piece of steel that projected the lasers fall to the gravel, because he cursed. "Damn it. Someone needs to invent new handcuffs specially for that dude."

"Hell, I don't care as long as it's not me he's looking at." Another one supplied.

Naruto ignored them after that, because the hands had moved. Towards him. He wasn't all too sure whether he liked the idea. Sure, the dudes were _Forcers_, and thus not the most trustworthy sources of information, but... The redhead _was _pretty creepy, no matter how much Naruto liked to dull the pain by drowning in his eyes. Or maybe that made him even creepier. All this thinking was hurting his head.

He snarled and glared up at Green-Eyes as his hands -- the wrists were bleeding, a perfectly even circle of blood welling up on the pale skin -- reached out. Not even the redhead's eyes could blunt the agony that shot through him as he roughly pulled him into a sitting position.

Naruto let out a choked, breathless groan as the hurt shifted with his body, skin stretching and burning.

"What the fuck are you doing?" He growled, curling the arm that hurt less -- his left -- around himself and trying to ease his legs into a position that eased the sharp pain between his legs.

The redhead didn't answer, moving behind Naruto. The blonde shifted uneasily. What was Green-Eyes up to? He felt coolness on his back as his T-shirt was pushed up, and sucked in a breath as fingers slid over the torn skin and welts.

"Hey -- quit..." He gasped.

He _really_ wanted to hit Green-Eyes somewhere where it hurt, and he wanted to do it now. But he had the depressing suspicion that a punch, no matter where it landed, would hurt him more than it would his intended victim. The dude continued tracing the fiery lines of pain on his abused skin, and he wasn't exactly gentle about it.

He wasn't _violent _about it, either, but... Naruto was used to people being cautious when they touched his wounds -- like his friends, or doctors. They were careful about it. But Green-Eyes didn't lighten his touch or recoil when Naruto gasped, and his fingers pressed down as they had when they'd rested on his uninjured shoulder.

By the time the hand had made its way to the middle of his back, Naruto could actually...block the hurt out. He twisted around -- okay, he couldn't block _that_ out, he noted with a whimper -- and fixed Green-Eyes with a deathglare. "The hell? You going to be finished with that shit sometime?"

Green-Eyes thin lips curved into the barest hint of a grin. His hand pressed a bit harder.

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do not ask what the sense of this torture-fest is. It's Gaara, okay?

All right, next chapter more unrequited SasuNaru and yummy GaaNaru, maybe a smidgeon of KakashiIruka.

randomness: what did I tell you at the beginning? my mom came home at 8, and here I am at 9:20 am finishing it up. But there's good news! It'll be next chapter's randomness.

CLICK!


	9. Chapter 9

randomness: my mother will be gone on a motorbike trip fri, sat, sun, and mon. this means...

WRITING DELUXE!OVERLOAD!WHATEVER!

hah...now let's just hope the heavens are nice to me and I don't get writers' block...°worries whether she just jinxed herself°

okeedokee...many zanks to all you reviewzees...

randomness2: listening to one of Schandmaul's most boring songs. Would change it, but...too lazy.

all righty! Candy's in a bowl at the end of the chapter, and cookies are under the review button!

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Whore Street

It was grey, but the rain was still hiding behind a thick cloudbank. The atmosphere under the Konoha's awning was tense and worried, reflecting the sky's mood.

"Are you sure -- " Sasuke had probably smoked three packs in the two hours since he'd awoken without Naruto next to him.

Tenten looked exasperated and yelled, "Of course I'm sure, idiot! Why would I be lying? Naruto is just as much my friend as he is yours!"

Kakashi watched them, his forehead wrinkled in worry. The kids were seated in a loose circle, debating on what to do next. Even Shikamaru had made his reluctant way to them, and now stared at the ground in bored contemplation. Sasuke had completely lost his usual cool, and was repeatedly asking everyone when they'd seen the little blonde last.

Lee was there as well, tugging at his hair and staring fiercely at one of Shino's insect boxes as if it held the answers to everything. The two older kids were also sitting in the circle, Akamaru and Kiba's heads cocked to one side and Shino looking expressionlessly up at the awning.

Kakashi'd been woken up at seven by a loud banging on his shop door. Once he'd made it, annoyed and drowsy, out onto his steps, he'd been assaulted by a Sasuke in the midst of a total nervous breakdown and the rest of the group caught in an agitated round of bickering. Now, at shortly before nine, they weren't much better.

Kiba and Akamaru had gone to the other whores on the Street to ask whether anybody'd noticed Naruto around, but those who had gave the same answer as Lee; the last time the blonde had been seen had been around midnight. Kakashi was pretty much at a loss. Sure, they could always go to the Force, but...the Force had a knack of putting 'unimportant' things into file cabinets that got opened once in a decade, and Kakashi had the helpless feeling that this would count as insignificant.

He watched as Sasuke, quiet after Tenten's rebuke, raised his cigarette to his lips and inhaled deeply. The boy's hands were shaking, and he had dark rings under his eyes. He looked so...unlike himself. Kakashi wasn't as dumb as some people thought he was, and you really didn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that Sasuke felt something for Naruto. The silver-haired shopkeeper mused on that for a second. Was he as obvious as Sasuke when it came to Iruka? He hoped so. Maybe the older man would get the hint then sometime.

"Kakashi-san!" Kakashi started. Speak of the devil!

Iruka's breathing was ragged, and he pointed over his shoulder. "Naruto... I've already called a medic..."

Sasuke stood up so quickly that his cigarette fell from his lips. "_What? _Where is he? What -- "

"Shut up, Sasuke." Kakashi muttered. It was kind of hard to keep his mind straight when Iruka was so close – well, shoot him, he was a sexually active twenty-nine year old male, what'd the world expect? A saint? -- "What happened?"

Iruka, as usual, showed no sign of even _remotely _reacting to Kakashi's presence. "I don't know. He was lying in a corner of the parking lot. He was crying and screaming – I think he's pretty badly hurt."

Sasuke had lit up another cigarette. "Is he – did you leave him there alone, Iruka-san?"

Iruka shook his head. "There are a few of my men there." He watched carefully as the boy's strange, swirled eyes hardened for a second, the meaning of Iruka's statement sinking in. No one at the Konoha – not even Kakashi, at least Iruka was _pretty_ sure he didn't – knew that Iruka worked with the Force. The cool expression was gone as quickly as it had came, though, and the boy shrugged almost imperceptibly.

Iruka breathed an inward sigh of relief before checking whether Kakashi took it as lightly. The younger man wore a slight frown, and Iruka froze. Aaah! Please no! Let him just brush it away...

Kakashi suddenly grinned, and despite the tension in the air, he leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "You won't tell anyone about my warning sign being half the regulation size, will you?"

Iruka gaped at him. The silver-haired man's eyes twinkled for a few more seconds, then he looked serious again.

Iruka snapped his mouth shut and suppressed an amazingly strong urge to grab Kakashi and...

"Once you guys have finished fucking flirting and have made out the motherfucking _wedding date_, could we get back on topic?" Sasuke hissed. He felt as if his nerves had been flayed open and dunked into boiling oil, and these ..._lovebirds_... were busy batting their eyelashes at each other. By the fucking mother of fucking God!

Iruka looked startled and then chagrined. "Uh...yes. Sorry about..that." He stammered. A flush stained his cheeks – barely, but it was there. Sasuke looked from him to Kakashi, who was staring at the other man like a hungry lion at a juicy steak, and back to the flustered Iruka.

Tossing his hands in the air, he bit out, "I'm going down to see how I can _help_ Naruto."

He looked around at the other kids under the awning. "Is anybody else coming?"

Kiba stood, scratching his hair. "Yeah. Can't let the little brat die on us, now can we?" He grinned.

Sasuke had to choke back a panicked cry at that. Naruto dying..._not_ a joking matter! He'd woken up at five after only a half hour's sleep, wondering why Naruto hadn't come by then. He'd chalked it up to the fight about insane eyeliner-man, and supposed that the blonde was simply sleeping somewhere else under the awning. But after another half-hour of uneasy tossing and turning, he'd looked around under the pink overhang.

Naruto hadn't been there.

He'd woken everyone up and gone pretty damn well crazy over the whole thing. Ino had been staring at him unbelievingly throughout it all, and Shikamaru had actually sat up to stare at him when he'd admitted – and this had even surprised Sasuke himself – that he was worried about Naruto.

Shino got to his feet with a sigh. "Let's go, then."

Sasuke looked up at Iruka, and the man nodded. "Don't worry, I'm not that unfocused," he said with another slight blush.

"Sasuke," Tenten called softly. "Tell him we're worried about him, okay?"

He nodded.

The eight o'clock rush hour had ended a bit ago, and Whore Street was empty again. The four of them walked in an uneasy silence, and Sasuke occupied himself with praying.

_Please, let him not be hurt too badly..._

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God that was some sappy shit. Bad Sasuke! Can't you see that Naruto only loves one sadistic, insane bastard and that the sadistic bastard in question is way cooler than you! Give up already, hon!

REVIEW!I'm not getting very many, so move those lazy fingers!

Randomness: Nirvana. All Apologies. Home Demo. Sweet.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh...lala...CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.


	10. Chapter 10

hmm...gods I am in love with this story...

bralala. Thankye for the support till now. If you're able to count, then you will notice this is the tenth chappie. This is a special thing, is it not?

CELEBRATE!

for I will make this a GaaNaru chappie with much GaaSasu bashing and much much SasuNaru angsting(I hope).

Randomness: I have a bit of a request. Could you lovely reviewers maybe note your living place in the next review you leave me? I think it's really cool, knowing how far away the people are that are reading this. (I know I'm a freak. Bear with me.)

Nirvana. Come As You Are.

Here it is, chap 10!

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Whore Street

Naruto gasped painfully. "You know, I hope this isn't the way you greet every new person. If it is, then it's no wonder you're constantly in trouble with the Force. But then," he mused, "not everyone you meet is beat up. So I suppose that isn't it. Maybe you normally beat them up as a greeting, and – _fuck! _The _hell?_"

He glared up at Green-Eyes, who just gave him that evil almost-grin and pressed down harder on Naruto's back. This had been going on for quite some time now, and Naruto was torn between risking a punch at the redhead and just letting him get on with it, because in a way it did feel...better. At least, it felt better than lying around on gravel and used condoms and other disgusting crap with nothing to distract yourself from the hurting all over your body.

The Forcers were completely ignoring them, leaning against the dark green Force car that stood in the middle of the otherwise deserted parking lot. Naruto had briefly entertained the idea of asking Green-Eyes what they were actually doing here, but had then rolled his eyes at the thought. As if he'd get any answer beyond --

"Shit!"

-- that. He sighed. "I didn't even say anything. What's your problem this time?"

He felt the hand leave his back and frowned. "What – why'd you stop?" His eyes widened at the way the question came out – wistfully. Weird... must be the blood loss getting to him.

The dude snarled softly, in a slightly amused tone. He appeared back in front of Naruto, and squatted down. Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You've got some real problems, man."

A mere shift of the shoulders – barely visible. A shrug, of sorts. Like the almost-grin.

Naruto winced, trying to find a way to sit that lessened the burning ache between his legs. "Ugh. I think... I fucking need a medic."

Green-Eyes didn't react, and Naruto felt...relieved, maybe. If he had said that in front of any of the Konoha whores, they would have thought he'd gone crazy. But then, maybe he had. After all, he was letting a dude with weird eyes and a lot of eyeliner hurt him and missing it once he'd stopped. He repeated that thought a few times.

Yeah, he was surely suffering from temporary insanity.

He lay down on his left side. Sitting was getting tiring. The gravel crunched, and he cushioned his head on his left forearm. He blinked a few times, but the darkness that had been so inviting before didn't attract him as much now. He wrinkled his nose. The pain was so normal now that he'd gotten used to it, and Green-Eyes' little poking session on his back had helped with that. He still felt it, of course, especially between his legs, but twenty minutes or so of it had helped him control his reactions. Besides, now he was trying to stay put as much as possible. His thrashing from before had made out a third of the agony.

Green-Eyes was still sitting next to him, his eyes dragging themselves over Naruto with the heavy scrutiny that the blonde was starting to accept as a simple side effect of being anywhere near the redhead. He stared right back.

The redhead suddenly whipped his head around, seconds before Naruto heard gravel grinding loudly beneath several pairs of feet. The Forcers had left the car and were moving towards them.

"Hey, man. You've got to put your cuffs back on. Iruka-san is coming back soon."

Green-Eyes curled his lip slightly, but obeyed readily enough, as if he hadn't a care in the world. Naruto watched, fascinated, as the taller kid held onto the steel laser-projector with one hand and simply slipped his other wrist through one of the humming circles of light. Then the other hand pushed into the other loop. The redhead didn't show any reaction, though his wrists bled even worse now.

Naruto chuckled softly. "Fucking hell, you sure have some issues, man."

The redhead gave him his almost-grin again.

"Do you ever speak?"

The half-shrug.

The blonde started to laugh, but stopped when his ribs ached and his throat rebelled against having to do so much extra work. He croaked out a snicker instead, and was rewarded with another full-on green drowning – flood – river – fuck it. Something good, anyways. And water like.

This time they were interrupted by Iruka-san's worried voice. "Naruto? Are you all right?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Do I fucking _look_ like I'm goddamn all right? Please, spare me the stupid questions."

Sasuke bit his lip at the sight of Naruto's curled up form, blood staining the orange of his T-shirt and the faded denim of his jeans. The deserted parking lot dwarfed his tiny form. Sasuke ignored the person at his side – probably a Forcer – and asked worriedly,"Shit, dobe, are you all right?"

"Teme? What are you doing here?" The blonde asked, turning his head to look up at who was standing over him. "Kiba, Shino! Hey!"

They all muttered greetings, and Sasuke knelt next to Naruto. "Shit... Iruka-san said he'd called a medic. They'll be here soon, okay?"

A soft, distinctly unfriendly snarl made him look up. Hard, cold teal eyes met his.

He hissed. "Naruto – what's _he_ doing here?"

Naruto groaned. "Fuck, Sasuke --"

Too late.

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all right, so it was much much GaaNaru and Sasu bashing but like no SasuNaru angsting. Still...

Yup yup. Sasu bashing. By an insane sexy Gaara. Hehe. Okeydoke, CLICK IT.


	11. Chapter 11

hehe...yup. I am a freak and I love it. So rot so rot so erdbeerrot...yum.

Thank you to all the reviewers and remember: write your living place in your next review...internet transcends ALL!

randomness: Tanzwut. Erdbeerrot.

Here we go...

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Whore Street

Shino and Kiba looked at each other.

While Kiba broke into gales of his huffing laughter, Shino merely raised an eyebrow and examined the scene in front of him. Sasuke sure wasn't himself today... admitting to worry, looking tired, and now...

...beating somebody up?

Shino corrected himself. _Getting _himself beat up. But the black-haired boy had been just as ready to fight as the other dude. Probably this had something to do with the tension between Sasuke and Naruto yesterday.

Speaking of Naruto... Shino maneuvered his way around the the spitting and hissing cloud of fury that was Sasuke and the other kid, and sat down gingerly on the filthy gravel next to the blonde, whose eyes were closed in obvious exasperation. At first Shino thought that Naruto hadn't noticed his arrival, but the blonde soon spoke.

"You know, I really feel like something isn't right with the world today." It was a soft, angry growl.

Shino shifted. "I know the feeling. Just ignore them. The medic'll be here soon."

Naruto nodded.

Kiba was thoroughly enjoying the fight, even though – or maybe because – Sasuke didn't exactly have the upper hand. Akamaru was hyper next to him, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. The Forcers didn't seem surprised by the fighting at all; he even caught one muttering, "Ugh. Not _this _again." Iruka was standing near Naruto, asking worried questions from time to time and favoring the fight with soft groans.

After a couple of minutes, though, Kiba began to wonder whether he should save Sasuke, seeing as the kid was pretty much helpless in a headlock and barely holding back cries of pain as the redhead punched him repeatedly with his free arm. Sighing, the dog-owner stepped forward. "Hey, man. I know he can be a bit of a prick sometimes. But could you let him go now?"

The redhead looked up at him, and Kiba almost stumbled back. Shit! Fucking hell! The icy, crazy teal eyes blinked, as if the redhead expected a bit more. At least he'd stopped punching.

Kiba frowned, thinking hard. "Uh...it's probably not good for Naruto either, you know." Oh, great. As if this loony toon would care about what was good for Naruto...

To his surprise, Sasuke fell free to the gravel a split second after Kiba'd finished the sentence. The black-haired boy got to his feet and glared at the redhead, who just gave him a tiny, indifferent smirk and moved to where Naruto lay.

Iruka started. "Kenji?"

"Y-yeah?" One of the Forcers replied shakily.

"How many times has he gotten out of his cuffs today?"

"Uh...five times? Just a guess."

Kiba gulped. Cuffs? As in...Force cuffs? Lasercuffs? You didn't get out of lasercuffs!

Iruka shook his head. "We really need a new solution. Gaara," he started, turning to the redhead.

The kid seemed to know what he wanted, and picked a maliciously humming, red-glowing contraption up from the gravel next to Naruto. He began to – Kiba felt himself turn green – slip his hands into it, but Iruka shook his head. "Just leave it. It's not like they keep you from doing stupid stuff."

The redhead dropped them again, and turned away from Iruka to Naruto.

Sasuke waited for his breathing to calm down, still glaring at the redhead's back. He'd barely registered the exchange about the cuffs, too busy regulating the blood that pounded in his ears. He glanced over at Kiba and mouthed, "Thanks,". The dog-boy looked shocked, and Sasuke shrugged. Hell, Naruto'd disappeared this morning. What did they expect?

He went over to his friend, kneeling opposite the weirdo and examining Naruto'shurt form, trying to find where the wounds were the worst. Next to him, Shino was sitting quietly. Naruto opened his eyes, and with a pang Sasuke noted that they moved to the redhead first.

Determined not to be outdone, he asked, "You okay?"

Naruto growled. He started to sit up, but half-collapsed again in the process, and Sasuke watched disbelievingly as he grabbed a fistful of the eyeliner-man's shirt to steady himself. Once the blonde had gotten his balance right, he glared at both of them. "God, what _is _it with you two?"

Sasuke didn't really feel like he could take this. He'd been out of his mind from worry all morning – and it hadn't really subsided, looking down at the injuries on Naruto's form – and was just about ready to collapse. Especially after being humiliated by the creep in front of...well, important people. So Sasuke did something that he would never have done if he'd been anywhere close to emotionally stable at the moment.

He apologized.

"Sorry." He whispered.

Naruto froze, his hand falling from its death grip on eyeliner-man's shirt. He stared disbelievingly at Sasuke for all of about two seconds, then he nodded firmly. "All right. That's good enough for me. And what've _you_ got to say for yourself?"

Sasuke was so relieved by Naruto's reaction that it took him a few moments to process the sudden silence all around him, the crunch of gravel and the gasps. He looked up from the gravel, uneasy, and bit back a shout of alarm, betrayal, pain...anything. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to know what was going on.

Naruto had fallen back onto his elbows, and his eyes were locked on the redhead's. Both of them seemed far removed from the parking lot and the people around them, and eyeliner-man's lips were curved into the barest hint of an unsettling grin. Naruto...Naruto looked as if he was caught somewhere, and it wasn't altogether unpleasant.

The moment and the parking lot's stillness was broken by a girly voice yelling, "I'm sorry I'm late! My partner had an asthma attack and we had to get him calmed down before we could get here!"

The medic, a pink-haired girl in a bright green coat, didn't seem to noticeNaruto's annoyed frown as she pushed Sasuke and Shino apart to kneel beside him. She opened her case of medic stuff and got to work. The black-haired boy watched her worriedly, determined not to think about the scene he'd just witnessed. It didn't have to mean anything; after all, Sasuke had seen for himself that the creep's eyes were weird. Maybe it was just something that he could do with them.

But even as he paid close attention to the medic's treatment, he couldn't stop the image of Naruto's hand, subconsciously reaching for the redhead as he lost his balance, from flashing into his mind.

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hehe. Well, there was the Sasu bashing and the angsting. Tell me whether you liked it!

randomness: Lordi! "The kids who wanna play with the dead!"


	12. Chapter 12

Hey everyone! Here's chappie 12!

god...when I checked my email and saw 12 review alerts...I almost had a heart attack.

Dualism: Thank you SOOO much for your praise!°squeals° Though I'm really gaining weight from all those bribes...

heh. Randomness: Lordi. "Deadite Girls Gone Wild".

Thank you all soooo much!

here you go: more GaaNaru(I hope!)

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Whore Street

"BY THE FUCKING MOTHER OF GOD! COULD YOU GUYS CALM THE FUCK DOWN ALREADY!"

Silence fell over the hospital room, and Naruto fell back into his uncomfortable pillows, relieved. The Konoha crowd, Kakashi and Gai stared at him, mouths open slightly in shock.

"_What? _Your babbling was driving me up the wall." He grumbled.

Tenten and Ino had been wondering – and of course bombarding him with questions about it – why he got a single room (How the fuck was he supposed to know that? Probably Iruka pulled some Force strings. Huh...Iruka on the Force...He still needed to get used to that...), Kiba had been snarling at him as to who did it – hell, of course he didn't remember _that _--, Kakashi had been asking Gai – that scene had really scared Naruto shitless; was the pervert shopkeeper really _that_ far gone? Who asked _Gai _for love advice? -- for advice on Iruka, and Sasuke, though he hadn't been speaking, had been staring at Naruto in a really weird way. The only ones who were blissfully quiet were Shino, Akamaru and Shikamaru. Those three were lounging at the window. Lee was off somewhere, getting snacks for all of them.

Naruto just wanted quiet. He needed to think and calm down, and this commotion wasn't helping him at all. He growled again and pulled his blanket over his head. Hopefully they'd halfway shut up now.

Sasuke was feeling like a cross between dog shit and a used condom, for all the attention he was getting from Naruto. He still hadn't slept, and was pretty sure he looked like a zombie. He sat in one of the dingy room's hard chairs, staring at Naruto – well, where Naruto would be if he wouldn't have the blanket over his head.

Once the medic had gotten Naruto patched up enough, she and her partner had gotten him into their van and taken him to the hospital. The Konoha crew had had to follow with the bus, and once they arrived they'd busied themselves with leeching information out of a distinctly unresponsive and irritated Naruto. Sasuke had been too numb to join in, and he still perceived the others only as a dull roar around him.

Somehow, that simple gesture...Naruto, so instinctively reaching out for the redhead to help him...in Sasuke's current state, it became an obsession. He turned the image over and over in his mind, trying to brush it off and ignore the voice that taunted, _He trusts him more than you..._

That was ridiculous; Naruto had only known the dude for two days! He was interpreting too much into it...

But the stare.

Naruto had looked...comfortable? Safe? _Happy,_ the mocking voice supplied. Sasuke snarled under his breath and shook it away. No matter how optimistic he was, though – and he truly wasn't inclined to optimism at the moment --, he couldn't deny that there had been something significant about the way the two kids' eyes had locked onto each other.

And thus, he continued thinking in more and more depressing circles. The way Naruto didn't ever tell him what actually happened at the Force car...The _trusting_, yes, he admitted it to the voice, it had been _trusting_, grab for support...The stare. And it started over again. And over again.

By the time Lee gently touched his shoulder and told him that they should be leaving, he was pretty far into the dark gray helplessness of utter depression. As he slipped out of the room, the last person to leave, he cast a glance at the form still hidden under the blanket, begging for Naruto to peek out and say something, anything.

Of course he didn't.

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief as he heard the door close for the last time. He pushed the blanket off of himself and glanced at the clock on his bedside table. 7:56, it blinked greenly up at him. He rolled his eyes – the others had arrived at eleven. Outside the window, the sky was a darkening bluish grey. Someone in the Konoha crew had had the sympathy and the sense to turn off the shrill overhead light.

He relaxed and began to puzzle things out. He was completely confused. Who was this Green-Eyes dude, anyway? Why was he always hanging out with Iruka? And, fuck, Iruka was in the Force! Why did Sasuke and Green-Eyes always get so riled up around each other? What the _fuck _had that been this morning, with the touching? Why did Naruto love his eyes so much? And...Naruto still had to kind of process yesterday night.

He shook his head. Too much. He'd go to sleep and hope it organized itself overnight. Wincing a bit at all the little bruises and stabs on his aching frame, he tried to get comfortable. Sakura, the medic, had stitched him in so many places that he felt like a fucking rag doll(well, okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration, but still), and had told him in her horribly cheerful voice that he'd be fine within three days if he took it easy and did nothing to restart the inner bleeding. Then she'd gotten even more smiley and announced that those three days didn't count for the stitches, and at least one week of being careful would have to pass before they could be pulled.

He'd never met anyone so hellbent on being happy about delivering bad news.

Naruto shifted again and closed his eyes. The sound of the door opening and the bright light being switched on got an angry groan out of him. What was going on now? He opened his eyes a bit, and sighed. Well, he owed _him_ attention.

Iruka looked uneasy as he pulled a chair up to the bed and said, "Hey, Naruto."

Naruto nodded slightly. "Hey."

"I've got something serious to ask of you. I'm very aware that... painful experiences... can be traumatizing and that one often doesn't want to talk about them, but I need you to tell me all you can about the person who did this to you."

Naruto laughed. "Iruka-san, you've got to be kidding me. As if any client with tastes like that would let me notice anything worthwhile about him."

"Naruto, this isn't a laughing matter." Iruka sounded grim.

The blonde shrugged. "I still can't help you, man. The only things I really registered about him were that he was taller than me – not a hard thing to be, that he wasn't fat, and that his cum tasted like --"

"Naruto!"

He shrugged again. "You asked."

Iruka frowned at him. "Well... if that's all, then..sleep well."

Naruto shook his head. "Wait. Can I ask you some things?"

The man sighed. "If I'm allowed to answer them...sure."

"Who is the dude?"

"Gaara?"

"I guess. I mean, there is only one eyeliner-wearing, lasercuff-escaping redhead out there, isn't there? At least I hope so."

Iruka smiled weakly. "Yeah. Well...Gaara is, as you've no doubt picked up from the cuffs, a criminal." Naruto waited for him to continue, but nothing else came.

"Yeah. I _did_ pick that one up. And?"

The Forcer – it felt strange to think of him that way – ran a hand through his hair. "He was the terror of the City a few years back. Have you ever heard of the Sandman?"

"Of course. Wait – stop right there. _He's_ the Sandman?"

Iruka nodded, looking as if he was just about to be executed.

"B – but...he's...barely older than Kiba!"

"He isn't. He's twenty-two. They're the same age."

Naruto was quiet for a few minutes. Wow. The Sandman... he'd known the dude was insane, but that he was _that _crazy...

The Sandman – everyone knew about the Sandman. He was like the City's very own bogeyman. Naruto had forgotten most of the details, but he knew there had been some kind of missing-persons wave, and after three years or something they caught him. God, he forgot _everything_!

"Uh... Could you maybe – tell me what he did, exactly?"

Iruka leaned back in his chair. "Hmm. Well. I guess so. Detailed or abbreviated?"

Naruto shot him a disgusted look. "Abbreviated."

Iruka smiled dryly. "Hey, you deserved that for the semen comment. Okay, so basically -- we're still not sure about how many people he actually...did away with, but currently the number stands at around seven hundred. Gaara somehow kidnapped them – he had a couple favorite ways of doing it – and dragged them off to...well, plainly said, to kill them as slowly and painfully as possible."

Naruto digested this in silence. He shifted slightly, feeling the wounds on his back rub against the hospital gown he was wearing. "And why?"

Iruka shrugged. "Anger? Unhappiness? Maybe he just likes it...No one knows. It isn't as if he's a great talker."

The blonde snickered. "No, he really isn't. So why is he hanging out with you? And what were you doing in the parking lot?"

The Forcer winced. "Now it's getting to the Classified data. I'll put it into the most specific terms I can, all right?"

Naruto nodded.

"Gaara is...helping me... figure out some stuff that's happening on Whore Street. We're looking for hints on it wherever we can. Thus the parking lot."

"And what does all this have to do with your interest in the client who did this last night?" Naruto asked, gesturing down at himself.

Iruka smiled apologetically. "Nope, Naruto. That question's deep down in the Classified basement."

The kid grinned. "Oh well. Was worth a try."

The Forcer stood up and moved toward the door. "Yeah, maybe it was. Sleep well, and get better."

"Of course."

After the light had turned off and the door was shut, Naruto closed his eyes. Well, those answers had just brought up more questions, and intensified the need to know the replies to others. So much for a good night's sleep.

He frowned out the window, opening his eyes again.

"The Sandman, huh..." he murmured under his breath.

The black sky didn't answer. Unsure of how to take that, Naruto did the easiest thing.

He fell asleep.

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hehe...good SasuNaru angsting and GaaNaru angsting in here!

oh, and I hoped that answered some of the many questions about our favorite loony toon Gaa-chan.

Randomness: Subway to Sally, "Das Opfer".

review!I mean it !


	13. Chapter 13

hah...in German there's a saying, "sturmfreie Bude". It literally translates to "Storm-free Home"--

It means that you're alone at home. That's what I am right now(not counting my roommates), and loving it.

Well, this chappie is another time-filler. LeeNeji.

Thanks for all the reviews! I love you all!

randomness: Oomph. "Mein Schatz." Ah – now it's Fields of the Nephilim, "In the Year 2525".

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Whore Street

Whore Street was busy as always, but tonight just wasn't the Konoha group's night. They'd all missed a lot of their usual rest in the uproar around Naruto's injury, and each one of them was hard-pressed to hide their yawns from the customers. Sasuke had been ordered to rest by Ino and Tenten, and it was a further sign of his serious condition that he had accepted their command without protest. He now lay on Naruto and his mattress, deep asleep.

The two girls were working together to stay awake, offering themselves as a duo in order to avoid embarrassing lapses. The idea behind was it that, if one of them yawned or even dozed off, the other one could cover the slip up and pinch her friend awake in the meantime. It seemed to work pretty well, if the red marks on their hips could be taken as proof.

Gai had taken a few caffeine tablets, and was hyper enough to please any Viagra-pumped Hefner-wannabe(A/N: forgive me. It's a quarter to one in the morning, all right?). Shikamaru didn't seem to notice the difference between this day and any other. That wasn't exactly a surprise; he spent his days in _complete_ inactivity, and sleep was also an action.

Lee had declined his Master's caffeine tablets, and was kind of regretting it. He could stay awake easily enough, but he found his attention span to be woefully short. Though, as he watched his Master nonchalantly finish his customers off like a salesclerk at a supermarket, he guessed that the caffeine would probably not have helped much in that department.

Once he'd filled his minimum quota of five clients, and was feeling sticky and sweaty and just generally disgusting, he told his Master that he was going home. Master Gai gave him a dazzling grin and told him to have a nice long sleep, then skipped to the next car. Lee moved off down the Street, glad to leave the hectically busy section of it and ease his eyes in the cool darkness.

"Hey."

Lee looked up. Neji was sitting on his windowsill as he had been the night before. He smiled slightly.

"'Night," Lee said, grinning. "Did counting whores not work?"

Neji's eyes flashed in amusement. "I'm afraid to try it."

Lee laughed, but it ended up as a huge yawn. "Hmm...What time is it?"

The kid glanced into his room. "Half past four."

Lee winced. "Oooh. Damn, I thought it was three or something."

"Been up a long time?"

"Huh. Hell yeah. One of my friends got hurt yesterday, and went missing for a while. We had to go to the hospital and all...I'm pretty used to sleeping during the day, so this one kind of knocked me out."

Neji cocked his head. "Hn. Sounds shitty."

Lee didn't know whether that was sarcasm or not, but he didn't feel like asking. "Nah, it's all right, you know? If you can help someone with it, then it's all good sometime."

The other kid shrugged. "Maybe."

"So where do you go to school?"

"That huge concrete block three streets up. City Center Number 56."

"Oh. _Oh_, I know that one! That really ugly one with all the prissy boys, right? No offense."

"None taken. They're assholes."

Lee grinned again. "Ah, common ground."

A soft laugh. "Did you ever...go to school?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I did elementary and the first two years of high school. Then I dropped out."

There was an awkward silence after that. The kid shifted slightly. He wore a loose T-shirt over black pajama pants.

"So...made any other acquaintances here yet? The junkies are really nice, and the ones at the bus stop are all right as long as you don't drop hints about liking whips."

Neji laughed again. "One of the junkies offered me a plushie. That's pretty much it."

"Was it pink?"

"Huh? Um...yeah."

Lee chuckled. "They're always fighting about that one."

"Okay."

"Hell, that's what they do."

"Okay."

"Um...could you speak normally again?"

"Okay."

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Heh. Yeah. Some fun stuff. I have a suspicion that Neji is pretty OOC, but it's not the main pairing so it's not that bad.

REVIEW!

randomness: Subway to Sally. "Die Hexe."(live).

Oh, and note this; the 13th chappie is coming out on a fri the 13th. Hot, isn't it?


	14. Chapter 14

hey!I reached the 50 review mark! I'm ecstatic!

randomness: Oomph. "Ich will deine Seele."

This is the first real time jump in the story(as far as I remember, but I might be wrong. It's a quarter to two am, be patient with me.).

Let's say...The third day since the night of Naruto's run-in with Mystery Man. Which means this;

night were Naru got hurt; day where he got found; night with LeeNeji; day; night; day where this starts.

And for those of you who are still confused – it's not Gaara, kay? Gaara is cool, and when he tortures Naruto our little blondie LIKES it.

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Whore Street

Naruto scrubbed the back of his hand over his face, reveling in the sunlight. Sun! It was probably the last warm day of the year, and he'd snuck out from under Sakura's beady eyes to enjoy it. He'd taken the bus down to Whore Street and greeted the kids who were at the Konoha, reassuring them and all that. They'd come to visit him yesterday, but had stayed for only half an hour before Sakura threw them out. Seemed as though she hadn't known about the first nine-hour-visit and taken offense at this evil strain on her poor patient's nerves.

Shit, she was annoying.

The blonde looked up as a shrill shout of "Mine!" sounded from the junkies' hangout. It was the pink plushie. Again.

He was headed for the Arcade. Sasuke was supposedly washing up – that was what Ino had said – and Naruto had decided to pay him a visit before he had to return to Sakura's evil domain. He still hadn't really sorted anything out – except for that night, he'd spent yesterday working through that and getting it out of his system – and wanted to ask Sasuke a couple of things. At least, he thought he might want to. He just wasn't sure...about anything.

But then, what did he expect? Slum Street-worthy nights and customers and injuries didn't fit into Whore Street. It was only logical that a commotion ensued. For the others, of course.

Naruto, however, was also uneasy about something. And he knew pretty well that it had nothing to do with the rough client. He only had to think of green-teal-in-between, and he got this weird little tugging feeling somewhere in the lower region of his back.

He growled softly. He really had no idea what was going on. All this... stuff in the past days was starting to grate on his nerves.

He was between the two last apartment houses before the Arcade, right in front of the space between them – about three meters wide, it always surprised him that no whore group took advantage of its relatively dry shelter. He glanced into it casually, as he always did.

Green. Teal...he gave up on it and just called it Gaara.

Not that the redhead gave him much time to think on his title.

He found himself pushed up against the hard, abrasive concrete of the apartment building farther away from the Arcade, Gaara staring at him. The wrists of the hand gripping his collar and the hand pressed against the wall above his head were unmarked but for pinkish scar tissue.

Naruto snickered. "Iruka gave up on the cuffs?"

The redhead half-shrugged, his grip not relaxing.

"You know, this is all very...nice, but I've got stitches on my back, and the concrete doesn't feel like a hot spring on them, if you know what I mean. And I really don't feel like getting killed by my med – _aah!_"

He let his head fall back against the wall as Gaara's teeth – he hadn't seen the redhead's mouth open yet, but he now knew that his teeth were _sharp_ – bit into the junction of his neck and shoulder. He felt his skin break and moaned again as the redhead _sucked_ on the wound, arching against the taller kid – young man – oh God, how could he even _think_ of something so unrelated while Gaara was...

"Oh _God..._"

The hand on his collar released him and pushed his T-shirt up, sliding around to his back, and Naruto knew instinctively what was coming. He gasped as the fingers clawed into the tender skin, not ripping the stitches – yet – but leaving, he was sure, long red lines of stripped skin.

Gaara raised his head from Naruto's neck and simply gazed at him for a few endless seconds, his hand still tormenting Naruto's back. The blonde could barely hold the gaze, panting and whimpering breathlessly.

A trickle of blood – Naruto's blood – stained a corner of the redhead's thin lips. His eyes were now much darker, and Naruto could feel the reason why pressing into his thigh. And he knew that he had the exact same reaction. He'd really have to dissect this...whatever it was...later. He rarely got aroused. Well, he actually _never_ got aroused, unless he worked on it...

_AARGH! _Keep your mind on track!

He took a risk. Leaning up, he licked the blood away.

Gaara's eyes darkened further, and Naruto felt his T-shirt pulled over his head in one fluid movement, his jeans unbuttoned swiftly but not pushed down. The redhead's hand moved, too quickly for Naruto to see, and suddenly he was being ground against the concrete, his hip enveloped by a strong grip that held him still.

He wrapped his arms around the taller kid's neck – Hell, Kiba also got called a kid. They were the same age, even if Kiba hadn't murdered seven hundred people – and gasped with each vicious, savage pound of the redhead's hips. Gaara didn't make a sound, his mouth hot on Naruto's bared throat as he bit – and yes, bit as in drawing blood – his way down the blonde's neck.

The concrete burned and tore at his stitches like very rough sandpaper, but he didn't care. He couldn't have stopped if he'd wanted to, not with Gaara thrusting them to...something. He couldn't think, he couldn't speak – he could only moan and gasp and pant and try to choke out the redhead's name as heat built in his lower back, unbearable and yet so sweet, as his legs gave out beneath him and Gaara had to grip both of his hips to hold him still when it came – over – him --

"_G-Gaara!"_

Naruto sagged, trembling, against the wall. The redhead slammed his hips against the wall one last time, his teeth sinking deeply into the skin just below Naruto's ear as he climaxed with a breathless, strangled gasp. The blonde arched at the sensation, whimpering.

They were silent then, but for the sound of their ragged breathing. Gaara was resting both of his elbows on the wall, on either side of Naruto's head. His eyes slid over the blonde, and Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Gaara just curved his lips into that evil hint of a grin.

"Shouldn't you be doing something with Iruka? Helping him or whatever?"

The almost-shrug.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Please. You just fucking gave me the first not-self-caused climax of my life. This calls for some talking, okay? What the hell did you just _do_? As far as I know, it's not normal for people to go into fucking heat when someone tears open their stitches."

He hadn't actually been expecting an answer. He_ was_ the Sandman, after all.

Gaara tossed Naruto his T-shirt and straightened his own clothes. He turned away and walked deeper into the narrow alley.

Naruto _almost_ didn't hear the soft, icy and amused half-snarl.

"Well, then you must not be normal..."

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phew. °Fans herself° Amazing what the mind can cook up at a quarter to 4 am.

REVIEW!

I really want to know how you liked this. Too bloody? Too gentle? Too...ah, I don't know. Tell me.

Randomness: Katatonia. "My Twin."


	15. Chapter 15

WOW. You know, I have a suspicion you guys aren't reviewing as much as you could. If the suspicion continues, you won't get a chappie 16.

So, work on it!

randomness: Moonspell. "Finisterra"

Dunno what's gonna happen in here yet. We'll see. OMG. I just made up my mind that I am going to have the ultimate Sasuke -bash. There won't be single reader out there not feeling sorry for our favorite asshole. Hate to break it to ya, Sasu, but Gaara is just...more, you know?

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Whore Street

He had not just seen that. He had _not_ – nonono...

Had_ not_.

No!

He refused to --

_Ah, but _I _don't refuse to have seen that. You _did _just see Naruto writhing under eyeliner-man. Quit denying it._

Sasuke snarled at the voice to go away. He didn't want to know...

But even after the voice shut up, he saw it in his mind's eye. Naruto, gasping and pleading – his eyes did darken during sex! – and loving what eyeliner-man was doing. His arms clutching at the redhead, the way he'd climaxed --

-- _he'd screamed the redhead's name!_

How could everything, a whole year, go down the drain in three days?

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heh. Yesyesyes, it's short. But hey, it's the ultimate Sasuke bash! It doesn't need to be an epic!

all right. And I really meant what I put at the top of the chapter. Review, guys!

Randomness: Nirvana. "Smells Like Teen Spirit."


	16. Chapter 16

Hey! How're all my lovely readers!heh...

°sweatdrops° It's, uh...dawn outside. I wrote through the night.

Please reward this, okay?

Randomness: Rammstein. "Amour."

Dunno about this one yet.

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Whore Street

God, Sakura could _really_ overdo it. Naruto glared around his puke-colored room. The door was now locked from the outside. The medic had gone berserk over his new wounds and called him – and this was exactly what she'd said – a 'bitch in heat'. She seemed to be able to read minds.

It was dusk outside. He was, in a way, grateful for the closed door. He needed to think. Of course, he'd needed to think for quite a while now, but this afternoon had kind of...made it more urgent.

Yeah. Kind of urgent.

It made absolutely no sense. With the customer, he'd been screaming his throat out and hating every second of it. And he was used to that – the hating it. He'd _always_ hated painful clients. Had on Slum Street, still did here.

And then, Gaara, hurting him. And he'd... well, yeah. He'd fucking loved it.

The goddamn _Sandman_ had made him beg for _pain_.

What was wrong with the world?

A funny thought struck him. He'd once read that you were a virgin until you really got pleasure from something sexual. Huh. So Gaara, the _Sandman_, had taken his virginity?

He laughed till he cried. _That_ was a good one.

Later, hours later – the clock said 1:03 -- , he awoke in the darkness, the digits glowing at him.

He didn't know how he'd gotten in, but he knew he was glad about it.

He felt the teeth first, the breath hot on his skin as he bit a trail down Naruto's spine. Whenever the fangs sunk into a welt, Naruto was forced to arch, his whimpers intensifying.

Then the hands moved, sliding the hospital gown – unbearable scratchy thing – off of him. At first, Naruto expected more of the same, the touching. What he got instead was cold metal.

He bit his lip, holding in a cry of surprise, pleasure, everything, as the slender blade slid over his belly, caressed his throat, tantalizing, threatening, slipped between his legs, teasing his thighs and...

_Oh fucking..._ "Ga--"

The knife silenced him, cool on his panting lips. Gaara's other hand replaced it, and the green eyes flickered to the door, their warning clear in the dark. Naruto understood.

At least he thought he did, until the knife slit a hot, wild trail up his inner thigh. He arched, his scream coming out as a strangled whimper. He'd never even _imagined_...Not even his wildest, most secret fantasies... This feeling was... It was...

..._ paradise_.

Gaara's body was suddenly close, naked and muscular against his back. The knife carved an arc around his hipbone, and he suppressed another shriek. He trembled beneath the metal and Gaara, beneath the metal that moved as an extension of Gaara, as cold and controlled as the rest of him.

The taller kid pushed him onto his belly, and Naruto nearly gnawed his hand off as the blade inscribed something onto the back of his thigh. It was writing – he felt the strokes, burning into him, carefully measured and applied. Calligraphy came to mind...but calligraphy was never, could never, be this erotic, this exciting, this _dangerous._

He wanted... more... _cut me deeper_..._harder_...

Naruto's breath came in short, agonized bursts. He begged for more, pushing himself onto the blade, needing...

...but the metal disappeared.

Naruto couldn't suppress his moan of loss. Gaara tightened his hold on his mouth and shifted into the right position for...The blonde gasped. _Yes! _Yes, this was what he needed.

The redhead didn't ease the beginning for him, and when he thrust...

Naruto lost it. "Oh – _Oh God, Gaara!_"

_Pain. _It shot through him, a burn from being stretched beyond anything natural, a stab from the stitches that held him together inside being ripped, a searing line of fire as the knife reappeared, cutting a half-circle on his shoulder blade. Gaara hissed , his voice husky, and Naruto heard a very soft, almost imperceptible growl, "_Tight..._"

Then the Sandman thrust, and Naruto drowned in... the _feeling..._

-- pain --

-- pleasure --

--_ pain _--

--_ pleasure_ --

-- _PAIN! -- _

He sobbed into the sheet – Gaara's hand was holding him still, angling him for more _PAIN _and the other was holding its extension, the knife...still sketching bloody circles and triangles and lines...

Gaara's teeth scraped his earlobe before the bloody metal came to his cheek and turned his face with light pressure. The knife returned to its other task, and the teeth claimed Naruto's lips, nibbling. The blonde moaned and tried to push back, tried to get more, but Gaara didn't allow it.

Naruto knew, somehow, what he had to do to reach the fulfillment of the promise that the heat, slithering together within him, whispered to him. He mewled plaintively, gasping with each hard, body-tearing thrust.

"Please...Gaara...I need it..."

Gaara's breathing quickened, and so did his pounding, his rhythm faltering for a split second.

"_Please...deeper...oh, God – Gaara ...please!"_

This time the redhead truly faltered, his thrusts growing more vicious with each new plea.

"I'm c-close..._PLEASE! HARDER!"_

Gaara lost control, the knife falling to the sheets as both of his hands reached for Naruto's hips and --

"_GAARAAAAAA!"_

Bliss...relief crashing over him in waves – he shuddered with each new crashing flood of pleasure. He collapsed onto the mattress, whimpering as Gaara pounded into him fully one last, brutal time before climaxing inside him with a strangled grunt.

The redhead slid out of him, and lowered himself onto the mattress next to him.

"Shit..." Naruto murmured drowsily. "My medic's gonna kill me."

He wanted to say something else, to thank Gaara, maybe, or ask him to stay. But when he turned, the Sandman was already dressed. His eyes held Naruto's for a moment, and then he was gone, leaving casually by the room's door.

Naruto frowned tiredly. Hadn't the door been locked?

He didn't want to puzzle it out. He curled up under the blanket, starting when his hand encountered something cool and smooth. Naruto examined the knife in the darkness, his fingers tracing the blade and the delicate, intricate hilt.

A gift?

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And? You like? I am aware that this was basically a smut chapter, and I'm proud of that. Pervertedness is an admirable trait in females. Males...well.

REVIEW!

randomness: Lordi! "They only come out at Night".


	17. Chapter 17

hah...just reread chappie 16 and went half-berserk.

REVIEWS! I NEED REVIEWS!

yeah...9:32 am and I'm no longer tired. Do not worry, loyal ones. There'll be at least one chappie coming up sometime today(hopefully more, but I don't want to jinx myself)

um...yeah. About what Gaara wrote on Naru-chan's back thigh...will be revealed soon. Hopefully in here, but I don't know what's going to be in here yet, so...we'll see.

And (I will not say any names, and I trust you guys enough not to single the person out) to the one reviewer who begged me to not make Naru-chan a torture addict-- hon, this is a GaaNaru fic. We ALL know that Gaa-chan is clinically insane. I take no pride in writing OOC. So, I declare...Naru IS already a torture addict. He became one in chappie 8. At least to Gaara's torture.

Hehe. Randomness: Deep Purple. "Sweet Child in Time."(live) and an extra tidbit – when I checked my hits a bit ago, I had 1984. Is that somehow symbolic? What does it stand for? My tyranny of Naru-chan?

Well, read. Go on.

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Whore Street

Sasuke stood in front of the hospital, and felt as if he was facing a bubbling pool of acid. He didn't want to go in there. But it was his chance to maybe salvage something. He didn't want to lose Naruto completely.

He steeled himself and walked into the lobby. He knew the way well enough to find it on his own, held up only by having to sign in at the desk before Naruto's corridor. The hospital was massive and puke-painted every where, the antiseptic smell of hidden disease omnipotent.

Sasuke found himself in front of Naruto's door much too soon. He knocked, and, hearing a muffled noise, went in.

"Goddamnit, you horny brat! Stay still!"

"Gerroff me, bitch!"

Sasuke's eyes widened. The pink-haired medic was trying to clean a cut above Naruto's hipbone, and the kid was constantly wriggling out of her grip, muttering insults. His eyes lit up when he saw Sasuke. "Hey teme! How are you? Coming to visit me?"

The medic threw her hands in the air and stormed out. She paused in the doorway, next to Sasuke, and hissed at the blonde, "Just you wait...once you're asleep, I'm going to dunk you in enough alcohol to get your driver's license withdrawn for life!"

Naruto rolled his eyes and flipped her the bird. She left the room and slammed the door behind her. Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Interesting, dobe."

The blonde shrugged and shot him a grin. "She hates me."

"It looks like the feeling's mutual." Sasuke breathed an inward sigh of relief. It was much easier that he'd feared it might become. Naruto was treating him normally again. It was _much _better than the coldness of the days before.

The other kid nodded and laughed. "It is. Come on, sit down. You're making me nervous, hopping around like that."

Sasuke pulled up a chair and lit a cig, his eyes skimming over Naruto's naked upper body, but the other teen quickly – suspiciously so – pulled his blanket up to cover himself. "So, how're things on the Street? I visited yesterday, and wanted to catch you at the Arcade, but...Sakura dragged me back."

Oh God no. That he had to mention that. That he had to _lie._The pictures passed through Sasuke's mind again; Naruto, panting and begging for more --

He stopped those thoughts. Jealousy wouldn't help him here. "Too bad. You're not missing much, though. Just the usual routine."

Naruto leaned close to him, smiling mysteriously. His breath was warm on Sasuke's face. "Ah, but I do miss one thing..." he whispered.

Sasuke forced down a shiver. What was he trying to say...?

"Ramen!" The blonde crowed. "I really, really miss the ramen."

Now, _that_ had been a misunderstanding.

Sasuke forced e grin. "Don't worry, the ramen place isn't going anywhere."

They lapsed into silence, Sasuke tilting his chair so that on two of its legs stood on the floor. Naruto shifted a bit under his covers, grimacing in the vague direction of the window. "Shit weather."

Sasuke stared out at the overcast greyness. "Yeah...winter's coming up." He muttered, exhaling a white plume of smoke.

Naruto curled up under his blanket. "Yeah."

Another silence, and this time it stayed that way – Naruto's breathing evened out as he slipped into sleep.

Sasuke rested an elbow on the mattress, contentedly letting his eyes travel over the elfin face, the long eyelashes just barely brushing the scarred cheeks. The almost transparent eyelids closed over shifting orbs, the soft, sensuous lips --

He leaned closer. No. The nibbled-on and kiss-swollen lips. And the soft, vulnerable throat was also no longer untouched, Naruto's pulse fluttering beneath a line of even marks; teeth, working their way down to...

Sasuke swallowed hard, staring down at where the line of bites disappeared beneath the blanket. Why? Why, for fuck's sake?

He sat back down in his chair and took a deep, hasty puff of his cigarette.

God help him...he was _really_ far gone.

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Hn. quit moping around, Sasuke, or I'll sic Sakura on you.

Okay...well the you'll find out what Gaara wrote on Naruto next chappie.

Like this one?

Tell me!

Randomness: Schandmaul. "Kein Weg Zu Weit."


	18. Chapter 18

hmmm...ah. Am feeling delicious.

Here's chappie 18. And I'd really appreciate it if those of you who haven't reviewed yet dropped me a line. It's such an amazing boost to my self-esteem...

randomness: Korpiklaani. "Midsummer Night".

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Whore Street

It was around four o'clock, and Lee was walking. He did that sometimes, to relax, and it always helped. It had helped now, too, easing the tension in his shoulders from the whole uproar about Naruto. The sky was an ominous yellow-gray, but he didn't feel like going home just yet.

He was somewhere to the south of the Street. Here, the houses became mansions and the chipped sidewalk made space for luscious gardens. Cars purred by, already _sounding _expensive.

Lee frowned when he came to a crossroad. Something was significant...

...oh, right. City Center 56. Where Neji went to school.

Lee shrugged. Why not? It couldn't hurt to see whether the other kid was there.

So he turned and walked down another villa-lined street, just as silent and empty as all the others, until he stood in front of a building that resembled nothing more than a massive kid's building block in uninspired grey and white. School had probably gotten out around fifteen minutes ago – there was still a steady stream of people leaving.

He leaned back against the fence and rolled his shoulders, relieved at how much easier it went after his walk.

The school was boring...there was no other word for it. The uniforms were – big surprise there! -- gray and white. The teachers that stood around, supervising the egress of the students, wore things that could only be described as 'teacherish' – corduroy pants, knitted vests, shit like that.

"Hey. I've seen you before! You're one of the fags who works on Whore Street!"

Lee raised a bored eyebrow and turned slowly to face the smirking dude. "Yeah. And?"

"Ugh. Shit, guys. Let's go. Sick fag." The dude turned around, his friends muttering darkly and shooting disgusted looks in Lee's direction.

Lee sighed. Stupidity was going to be the end of the human race someday, he just knew it.

"Don't you mind that?" It was Neji, appearing beside him with a shoulder bag and a frown.

Lee shrugged. "Not really. Walk back to the Street together?"

The milky-eyed boy nodded. "Sure."

"What about your...sister?"

"She's not my sister." Neji's voice hardened.

"Ah, sorry."

"No, it's all right. Just forget about it."

They passed the deserted-looking villas in a just-under-comfortable silence.

Lee broke the quiet. "No, I don't mind it. The insults, I mean. I think it's pretty funny, you know."

"Why?"

"There's a teacher – I know he works at your school. Tall, beard, glasses...teaches biology?"

"Mr. Ikazaki? What about him?"

"He's a regular of mine."

"_What?_"

"See? So many people call it disgusting and stuff, when actually at least a quarter of their social contacts and whatnot use a whore."

The tall boy frowned. He cocked his head. "And do you like doing it?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"Well...on the customer. I mean, you're exchanging body fluids, you know? And there're some things that can make it get disgusting pretty easily."

Thankfully Neji didn't ask him to elaborate on that. After all, he still had a night of work before him.

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hemhem. I know, short and not really anything _obvious_. Basically a snippet to tell more about Lee.

Randomness: Lordi. "It snows in HELL."

please review, okay?


	19. Chapter 19

°sigh° I want to get on with the plot, I really do. I'll try in here. And finally let out the secret...what's on Naruto's thigh?

Maybe even a teeny weeny little smudge of KakashiIruka!

REVIEW, PEOPLE!

randomness: Subway to Sally. "Unterm Galgen." (live)

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Whore Street

"Where'd you go last night?"

No reaction.

"Gaara! You know that this is a real chance for you. If you go on doing shit like this, you'll be right back where you were before this; In the high security area of the CiJail."

The redhead just continued staring out the window.

Iruka sighed and sat down next to him on the couch. This whole thing with Gaara had been walking a thin line between disaster and perfection ever since its conception. Which, he admitted, had been his fault. It had been his idea to use Gaara to help in the investigation, after all.

But he'd thought of something along the lines of a six-Forcer guard around the kid at all times and a straitjacket. In-stead, his superiors had added three Forcers to his team, handed Gaara over in lasercuffs, and told him to deal with it. They didn't hesitate to add that Iruka was to provide room and board, as well.

Obviously it went wrong.

On the first day, Gaara scared everyone on Iruka's team – including himself – shitless by showing just how useless the lasercuffs and his three 'guards' were. The second day was the fiasco with Sasuke and Naruto, the third day a continuation of it – the fourth day had been blessedly uneventful --, the fifth he'd disappeared for twenty minutes in the afternoon(They still didn't know what that had been), and yesterday he'd vanished into thin air for two hours in the very early morning.

Today...had been calm. They'd continued their sweeps, continued following Gaara around whenever he showed interest in something, and had maybe even stumbled on a clue by asking the old whores a couple of thousand questions.

Iruka watched the unmoving face glare out the window, the slim yet muscular body tense and constantly alert, the scar in the form of the kanji for 'love' silvery on the pale forehead. One arm was thrown over the backrest of the couch, the other was curled around the knee that the redhead had pulled up to his chest. The scars on his wrists glinted in the half-light of the dusk. His kohl-lined eyes were expressionless, his lips in the usual thin line. It was the relaxed pose of a resting predator.

At first, Iruka had been completely scared out of his mind at the thought of sleeping anywhere under a kilometer close to the kid; he was the _Sandman_, for God's sake!

He still froze up from time to time, whenever he saw Gaara with a sharp object or something potentially dangerous. Of course it was senseless; if Gaara wanted to kill him, he would. Not even Iruka's originally hoped-for six-Forcer escort could have had any affect on the outcome of a situation like that.

But he'd gotten sort of used to the kid. There was a partnership of sorts between them, one of convenience. If Gaara did well, Iruka would get rewarded. If Iruka would get rewarded, he could put a good word in for the redhead's release. After all, his superiors had all but outright proclaimed their willingness to forget about Gaara's lifelong tenure if they could solve this...stuff.

Iruka got up. "Are you going to be leaving tonight, as well?"

There was no answer, but the head shifted – a millimeter, maybe two. With Gaara, every tiny movement held meaning.

"Don't endanger your situation."

Gaara continued looking out the window.

Iruka walked through the warm darkness of his apartment, heading for the kitchen. Once he reached it, he turned on the light and began fixing himself something to eat. The kitchen was tiny and narrow, but Iruka loved its linoleum-lined impracticality, the way everything seemed never to fit in to the corners and the water-marked walls. It had... character.

Well, one could say that of his whole apartment, actually. It was a pretty rundown affair, but Iruka liked it that way. It was a great place to come home to after an exhausting day.

Filling himself a bowl with rice and canned tuna, he went to his bedroom to eat. Gaara ate when he wanted to and what he wanted to, which seemed to be very rarely and pretty much anything that fit into his mouth.

Once he was in his room, Iruka's mind turned to the only thing that currently occupied his mind beyond the case. A certain silver-haired thing. Kakashi.

He hadn't found a possibility to talk to the man since the time at the Konoha three days ago, but he was sure that if he did, even his mind could come up with some funny remark about the warning sign's size. Then he could kind of test the waters. After all, Kakashi was only two years younger, but he lived a completely different life. Iruka had a very strong suspicion that the silver-haired man was... well, maybe not really up for something serious.

He wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not.

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WOW. Plot! OMG! did you guys just see that! The plot ran past us on little padding feet!

randomness: Subway to Sally. "Das Opfer."

REVIEW, LOVES!


	20. Chapter 20

lalalalala...chap 20...°cackles°

I haven't got any reviews for my last 3 updates. Do I go that fast? Or are they that bad? Tell me!

Lalala.

Randomness: Lordi. "Hard Rock Hallelujah."

here ya go...I dropped a trail of candy throughout it, and ramen awaits the reviewer!

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Whore Street

Sasuke woke up in half-gloom next to a sleeping Naruto. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and looked at the clock. It blinked at him. 6:12. He should be getting going, he realized. He had work to do.

He'd fallen asleep in the chair, his head and his arms on the mattress. Sighing, he looked down at Naruto, whose blanket had become entangled with his arms and legs in slumber.

Sasuke's eyes widened.

The blanket had uncovered the blonde's thighs, and on the back of the left was a wound... a cut, or more than one cut. Under it, the skin was discolored yellowish and light purple – old bruises, older than the new wound, the symbol. The scabbed over, very fresh, evenly and perfectly inscribed kanji.

_Ai._

Sasuke fled.

Leaning against the outside of Naruto's closed door, he lit a cig, ignoring the angry looks from the passing medics.

The wound had been fresh. But why would Naruto have a cut? Who would hurt him here?

A well-known, torturous image entered his mind. He had been begging...begging for pain. Sasuke recoiled from the thought. Naruto had never liked pain --

_How do you know? _

What had eyeliner-man don --

"Sasuke? That is your name, right?"

He puffed at his cigarette, nodding.

The pink-haired medic standing in front of him put her hands on her hips. "First of all, smoking is prohibited here. Second of all, I need to get in the room that you're blocking the door to. The horny brat's wounds need to be cleaned."

"Why do you call him that?"

"Because it's what he is!" She rolled her eyes. "First he sneaks out yesterday afternoon and has wild sex, ripping open the stitches on his back in the process like the smart boy he is, then he somehow manages to get fucked _here_. In the hospital bed. I won't even start on the list of treatments he disrupted with _that _Herculean feat. In case _you're_ the one having fun with him, I very strongly advise you to take a break from the bloodplay until he's better. All right?"

Sasuke stepped aside to let her in the room, and left the hospital in a daze. He didn't really want to have think about what she'd just said, but he knew he eventually would.

Naruto hissed at the bitch. "Look, lady. You've treated all the wounds I had before, okay? That's enough."

Sakura stared at him long and hard, before huffing in exasperation and flouncing out. She predictably slammed the door behind herself. Naruto grumbled something unflattering and and glared over at the light switch. He didn't want to get up.

As if someone had heard him, Sakura flounced back in, slapped a palm down on the light switch, and left again.

Much better...he thought sleepily, closing his eyes.

When his eyes opened again, the darkness was complete and the clock told him 12:34.

And he was here again.

"How do you get in here with nobody noticing you?" he asked softly, watching the tall, slender form move towards the bed.

There was no answer except the rustle of the sheets as Gaara got onto the bed. As their hands made short work of Gaara's clothing – Naruto had refused to wear that hospital gown thing anymore --, uncovering the pale, muscular tautness of the redhead's body, the silence continued, erotic in it's completeness.

Once the offending fabric was all gone, Gaara pushed Naruto down, his eyes inquiring.

Naruto nodded slightly and reached onto the bedside table, into his bundle of belongings, and slid the cold, gleaming knife into Gaara's waiting hand. The darkness danced over their bodies, pooling on Gaara's paleness and flowing over Naruto's tawny form. The metal sighed, flat against Naruto's neck.

The blonde bit his lip. Tonight... tonight was the real thing, he knew. Yesterday Gaara had been lenient, had allowed him to speak when he couldn't keep it inside anymore.

Not tonight.

His eyes closed, his mouth pressed into a trembling line. He didn't dare turn his head to muffle his whimpers, because the knife was dancing at his throat. Gaara's other hand slid into his hair, pulling his head back, baring Naruto's neck completely to the cold steel.

_Ah..._The knife slid, dangerous and controlled, diagonally over his tensed throat. Naruto swallowed a scream as a thin line of icy heat followed it, his whole body trembling as he tried to suppress his reaction. The knife left his throat then, and the blonde had to bite back a gasp of disappointment.

_God...this is...I won't be able to..._

Gaara forced him up onto all fours, the knife still dancing tantalizingly over his skin, pricking between his thighs and...skittering across his chest – sliding up his forearms – following his spine down, down...sliding between...

Naruto managed to stop the scream and transform it into a moan.

And his assumption of yesterday's leniency proved correct.

Gaara moved away from him completely, and Naruto stayed, shuddering with excitement and fear, on all fours.

He heard fabric rustle, and suddenly a wad of cloth forced itself into his mouth, Gaara beside him but not touching.

Naruto accepted the gag – his mind gasped, _Oh...never...n-never before...felt this way..._

The punishment was exactly that.

He heard the slithering sound of leather on cotton and nearly blacked out from the combination of panic and need that tore through him as the distinct jingle of a belt buckle reached his ears.

And then – and then --

_OH GOD!_

_AAAAAH!_

_ah...AAH-- GAARAAAAAA!_

_more...NO – STO – more, please...MORE!_

_harder...h-harder..._

_again...DO THAT AGAIN!_

_ohhh..._he sagged, bloody and shaking, onto the bed. He heard Gaara put the belt aside, felt him press into him...

_nooo...I can't – too much – AH! _

felt himself move into the thrusts as he had into the belt, instinctively --

_mmh...ah...deeper...harder...oh God yes faster harder deeper YES YES YES -- _

_...Gaara...!_

_-_- screamed into the gag as his climax crashed over him, rewarding him, shivery pleasure hurrying through his legs arms heart. Gaara emptied himself into him with a gasp, the only sound he'd made --

-- and they were a trembling, entwined being, Gaara's strength and ice gradually recovering from his climax as Naruto clutched at him, his back a mass of pain, his own peak slowly shuddering itself out.

Naruto sighed drowsily and murmured, "Poor medic,"

The blonde's eyes were already closed and his breathing close to even, but he still caught the soft snicker.

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wow. okay...that was bloody. Was it clear?

Oh well.

Review! Tell me what you think!


	21. Chapter 21

wow...you guys-- you're SOOO nice to me!

I've(for three more days anyway) kind of coordinated my sleeping patterns with most of yours, so I just woke up at 3 a.m...

hehe.

What can I say? I'm obsessed.

Dualism: for me it's the best present ever to wake up to SEVENTEEN review alerts...and no, I have no idea how bad this blood play must be for Naruto...but who cares? As long as Gaara's insane and Naruto loves it...heh.

Naruu: I didn't take offense, just stating it. I've had a problem with cutting for a while, but I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of, even if most people say so – I think, as long as you make sure you're not cutting too deep or shit, you know, it's all right. And don't you dare send me a lecture! I tell things on here that I wouldn't tell my closest friends (°wonders briefly° which are? just joking...)...hehe.

Randomness: Lordiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! "Who's Your Daddy?"

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Whore Street

Sasuke peered up at the thunderous grey sky. The rain wasn't falling yet, but he was sure it was going to be there soon. God, why couldn't mornings just be...sunny? Like by default?

He smoked his cig slowly in the silence beneath the awning. Shikamaru was in his awake/trance state, but otherwise everyone was still asleep. Ino and Tenten were sleeping around a shaky pile of Sasuke's black cards – somehow they always got a hold of them after work --, and Kiba's shaggy head was peeking out of the blanket that he shared with Shino, the other kid's hair just barely visible.

Sasuke just couldn't...fathom it. All this new shit. Naruto...and eyeliner-man.

Of course it hurt. But when he pushed the pain away, he found...what?

He wasn't sure what it was, this unbelievably neutral feeling, didn't know what to call it. But it was something that didn't protest when images of the two passed through his mind, didn't whisper painful things like his jealousy did.

He was pretty sure he could come to like it.

Sasuke sighed. Weird days... nights...times.

He stood, stubbing out his cigarette and readying another one to light it. Once he did so, he walked up the Street, toward where the ramen place's sign glowed neon into the thick stormy air. He ordered a bowl of ramen for himself, glancing over at the bus stop. There seemed to be a commotion there, all the whores still in their... imaginative... work outfits. They were standing in a crowd, gesticulating and speaking agitatedly, though Sasuke was too far away to hear what they were saying.

He turned to the friendly ramen man, who was just finishing heaping his bowl with ramen. "Do you know what happened? With the S&M people?"

The man shrugged. "No idea. A few came over and asked me whether I had seen their youngest – you know, the blonde? Blue eyes? -- around. Seems he was missing."

The whole thing sounded unsettlingly familiar.

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WOW. PLOT!short, but plot. Sasuke _can _only be short with me, I get annoyed with his moping.

Any guesses as to the 'unbelievably neutral feeling'?

review. It's early morning. review!


	22. Chapter 22

Heeeeeey! Hugs to all!

Here's chappie 22.

randomness: Lordi! "Hard Rock Hallelujah"!

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Whore Street

Iruka rubbed the aching scar on the bridge of his nose. The rain was warm and heavy, soaking his clothes until they felt like cleaning rags on his tired, irritated and just plain stressed body.

Gaara had, yes, left again in the night. Iruka's team monitored the redhead's movements as much as they could, but just as in the afternoon and night before, they lost him somewhere in the City's alleys.

And now, Iruka was confronted with the disappearance of a whore. Though, he mused bitterly, that was nothing new. After all, whores had taken to disappearing regularly these last two months. Not enough to pique the interest of his superiors – but when boys from the villa streets, the pampered and spoiled firstborns, began to evaporate into thin air as a result of tricks reminiscent of the dreaded Sandman...

The right hands were filled with cel-chips, and Iruka was put on the case.

He glanced over at his only significant lead in this, looking as always – eyes cold and shuttered, body tense, face expressionless.

Puh...as long as he came back from his trips, Iruka didn't really care what he did. Though it surprised him – his men were no match for the Sandman, and he could easily have slipped away and _stayed_ away often enough. For some reason, Gaara wanted to solve this thing as much as Iruka did.

Well, maybe that was putting it a bit too strongly. Gaara didn't want to do things other people considered as normal. And solving a case was most certainly a normal person's wish. So... Gaara had his own reasons for aiding, however listlessly, Iruka's team.

"So, Mr. Forcer. What are you going to do about Hika-chan?" The whore looked expectant, challenging Iruka to answer.

Normally Iruka wouldn't be fazed by an attitude like that. But if you paired it with a mass of leather strips and a threatening, swishing whip... "Whatever we can, miss."

"Look, okay? Hika is really important to us. Find him." She turned away.

Iruka nodded, and gestured to his people to continue the questioning of the group for hints. He walked over to Gaara. "And? Would he have been to your taste?"

A shift.

"Thought so. You know, it probably wasn't the best to leave during the night when this one disappeared."

No reaction.

Iruka sighed and turned away. When Gaara found something that he considered important, he would walk off, and Iruka's team would follow him, usually led to either clues or people who knew something. At least Iruka's suspicions in that area had been correct.

Whoever was behind this thought almost exactly like the Sandman. The kidnappings were executed with perfection, and without Gaara they would have stayed unsolved forever. But the Sandman's insane mind recognized the patterns, a certain angle there, a car here... they were alike, the current criminal and the dormant one.

Hopefully dormant one, Iruka amended.

One of the Forcers finished asking a curvaceous young woman questions and moved to Iruka. "Well, basically, we know this: The kid was blond, had blue eyes, very pretty. Was seen last around midnight. Nobody saw the car he got into. Otherwi – shit!"

Both of the Forcers jumped slightly when Gaara appeared next to them. The Sandman shifted slightly, his eyes catching on both of thembefore slidingaway.

Iruka was pretty used, by now, to interpreting these things. He followed the redhead's gaze to the Konoha. "What about it?"

The redhead gave the almost-shrug and went back to where he'd been standing before, at the edge of the proceedings. Iruka exhaled into the rain, begging for patience from... wherever. He fixed his gaze on the Forcer from his team. "Repeat what you just told me."

"All right... So, the kid who disappeared is blonde, blue-eyed --"

"Naruto!" Iruka pivoted. "Gaara! Do you mean Naruto?"

A shift of the shoulders.

"But... he let him go. Why are you --"

The eyes hit him full force, and he remembered the panic during the Sandman's reign over the city, the hushed nights when only fools went on the street. But those that he wanted, he got anyways. And the worst thing was...

... to be let go.

To be let go by the Sandman...

... _had_ _promised more to come..._

it had been the worst, because --

-- it meant he'd take you again.

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hah...more PLOT.

Review, luvs!


	23. Chapter 23

Thankees, Dualism, for your many reviews. Really, your food has been half the reason why I can update so much – means I don't have to go to the kitchen as often...

heh.

Randomness: Tanzwut. "Fatue."

here's chappie 23! Let's see whether there's more plot...or not. Wow, I should become a poet.

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Whore Street

The thunderstorm outside illuminated the room with bright flashes, rumbling threateningly. Naruto lay awake on his stomach, wondering what he'd done to God to deserve this. First of all, the cause.

Gaara.

He rolled his eyes as even _thinking_ the name sent a feather-light shiver of excitement skittering down his spine. Shit, he was pathetic. He shifted, trying to ease the bone-deep ache throughout his back. He'd long given up on decreasing the burn between his legs.

All this pain and shit didn't stop him from loving it. Naruto stopped for a second and almost laughed at the absurdity of the last thought. He rephrased it.

He loved it _because_ of all this pain and shit.

Gaara... huh. Fucking icicle. He slid a hand down to feel the scabbed lines of the kanji.

_Ai_.

He wasn't about to interpret it too far. Hell, this was the _Sandman_. Probably some kind of joke. Or artwork. Yeah, that would fit. Gaara-art,New Age --

He chuckled a bit.

Second, the consequence.

_Sakura_.

AAARGH!

She'd taken as long as possible with the stitches, he just _knew _it. The same with the swabbing alcohol. That bitch! Just because she didn't have a love life...

Still. Naruto _did _want to leave the hospital sometime, and he wouldn't be able to with Gaara re-opening everything nightly. He just didn't know whether he could control himself long enough to tell the redhead that the next time he came. _If_ he came, because even though Naruto easily took this... thing... for granted, he knew that it could change.

And once he'd managed to tell Gaara that he wanted to get out of here at some point, there was always the question of whether the redhead would even listen to him. Wasn't exactly as if Naruto was the one in control here.

He exhaled softly. No, it really wasn't as if he was in control. He didn't know whether he liked it or n – scratch that. He loved it. It just... frightened him. It was vast, wild, boundless, this... whatever it was with Gaara. And Gaara dominated it completely.

Naruto started when the door opened, and turned his head to see who had come in.

"Hey -- who are you?"

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RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! SO GODDAMN SHORT!

ah well...

OMG! THE PLOT JUST RAN BY AGAIN! SOMEBODY CATCH IT!

hah... 6 am here.

Review, please.


	24. Chapter 24

Umm... I'm really trying to get the chappies longer.

Randomness: Nirvana. "Something in the Way."(I love this song)

chap 24, served on porcelain:

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Whore Street

Kakashi came out of his shop, looking worried, and announced, "Naruto has disappeared."

The Konoha crew broke into a babble of "What?", "Why?", "How?", and he raised his hand to shut them up. "I don't really get any of it. Iruka just called me. He's at the hospital."

Sasuke was busy trying to breathe. Disappeared. Again. He inhaled deeply of his cig, trying to calm himself down. His thoughts were a complete jumble. But Naruto'd been in the hospital, not working -- who --

An image of eyeliner-man flashed up, and suddenly everything clicked into place.

Of course!

God, he had been so blind.

He barely noticed the rest of the crew around him as they walked together to the bus stop. As they got on the bus, Sasuke's eyes caught on one of the dominas, looking tense. Fuck! That fit in as well! Hadn't the ramen guy said that there was a kid missing from that clique? Blond and blue-eyed?

It explained everything.

The ride to the hospital was lost on him as he puzzled through it, looking for any possible misconceptions. But no, it fit. Perfectly so. And the unbelievably neutral feeling -- he'd started to call it acceptance – was gone.

They were noisy and obnoxious, hurrying up to Naruto's corridor, and Sasuke saw medics frown at them as they passed. He didn't care, too busy with his revelation.

Iruka-san was standing, worry all over his friendly face, in front of Naruto's room door. Sasuke could see Forcers inside, checking all over for clues.

Iruka scanned the Konoha crew, pausing a bit at Sasuke. The black-haired boy looked... angry. Strange.

He sighed. "Hey, kids. I'll tell you what I'm allowed to – basically, we had a suspicion that Naruto was in danger, and came here to leave him a few... watchers. But we came too late. He's been gone for about an hour."

Gaara, leaning against the opposite corridor wall behind the kids – they seemed not to have seen him yet – along with some of Iruka's team, was staring at the floor, one hand hidden in a pocket and the other curling and uncurling, forming a fist and then relaxing. Iruka had never seen him like that before, and it frightened him. The kids were quiet, digesting what Iruka had just said.

Sasuke spoke, his eyes narrowed. "And why did you think he was in danger?"

"I can't tell you that. Most of this is completely classified, kids. All I can say is... we'll look for him."

Soft mutters came from the group, the two girls biting their lips and whispering to each other, Shikamaru frowning a little while Sasuke continued looking furious. Or something. Kakashi was looking uneasy beside them all, shifting from foot to foot.

Despite the fact that he wanted to comfort the kids – and Kakashi! --, Iruka needed to do something about Gaara.

Quickly.

The redhead's gaze had intensified, his eyes almost glowing teal as he glared at the floor. His free hand stayed a fist now, the skin even paler than usual from the strain as Gaara pressed his fingers together.

Iruka chewed his lip. What should he do? Asking what was wrong might bring Gaara back down from his... fit or whatever, but it might also be the catalyst for... something. The members of his Forcer team that weren't needed in the combing of the hospital room kept their distance, looking nervous.

Thankfully – depending on how you looked at it -- , the decision was soon taken out of his hands.

Iruka saw Sasuke turn as one of the Forcers standing behind the group laughed loudly at something another had said. His swirled eyes skipped over the team members, hard and cold, and rested on Gaara. They widened briefly, and then he lunged.

Iruka gasped, stepping forward – but the three Forcers whose (neglected) responsibility it was to watch over Gaara finally did something right, and caught Sasuke, knowing it was senseless to try and hold Gaara if they had to.

Sasuke struggled helplessly.

The Konoha kids and Kakashi looked almost comically clueless, since the two who already knew Gaara, the hobos, were not there.

Iruka stepped forward and said sternly, "Sasuke, I don't know what's between you two, but your little petty squabbles aren't helping us in any way."

The kid ignored him and snarled at Gaara, "_Where is he, asshole?_"

Iruka cursed and looked up at Gaara – no.

_The Sandman_.

The redhead's eyes were no longer glowing. They were like flat almond-shaped disks of teal-colored ice. One filed incisor peeked out beneath his upper lip, and his fist now uncurled into the likeness of a claw – middle and index finger crooked and tensed, the nails gleaming in the corridor's neon light – at his side. He advanced on Sasuke, step by step.

Iruka said softly, "Gaara."

The Sandman's eyes flickered back to green for a second, but then they grew hard and dark again.

"_Gaara._"

This time the green stayed long enough for Gaara to return to his perch at the wall. His hand still moved threateningly at his thigh, and his glare was still present, but at least he was no longer moving towards the kid.

Iruka breathed a sigh of relief. "Sasuke, don't _ever _do something that stupid again. Gaara won't hesitate to kill you. The fights before were just jokes to him."

The kid hissed. "It's _him_. He's got Naruto."

Iruka swallowed hard and said the words he didn't really believe yet, "Sasuke... he works _with_ us. He wouldn't --"

"FUCKING HELL, HE SNUCK IN HERE TO FUCK NARUTO THE DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY AND FOR ALL I KNOW LAST NIGHT AS WELL! IT MAKES SENSE, DAMMIT! I SAW NARUTO'S BODY! HE FUCKING _CUT _HIM!"

There was silence in the corridor after that very un-Sasuke-like outburst. The other kids and Kakashi were staring back and forth between Gaara to Sasuke, shocked looks on each face – even Shikamaru's.

Iruka took a bit to process _that _information. Then he turned to Gaara, whose uncurling hand had stilled at the outburst and was now slid into his pocket. "So that's where you went?"

A _distinctly_ evil twist of the lips was the only answer.

Sasuke snarled again, and this time it sounded so desperately unhappy that the Forcers let him go. The black-haired boy fled down the hall. Iruka could have sworn that the kid was crying as he passed him. One of the girls wanted to run after him, but Kakashi stopped her with a soft murmur.

Ugh... he wanted to go home and go to sleep. Why was it always him? He favored Gaara with an exasperated glance, but the kid ignored him. Iruka was pretty sure that Gaara had nothing at all to do with Naruto's disappearance. After all, it had been _his _idea to give the blonde some kind of Force protection.

Iruka had to shake his head a tiny bit, a slight smile on his lips.

So these were Gaara's reasons for helping the Forcer team.

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hahahaha... Sasuke bashing!

naruu: I completely agree with your whole reply – hehe... please review again!

And for all the others as well... REVIEW!


	25. Chapter 25

Willenlos bin ich ergeben  
Deinen Regeln Deinem Spiel  
Hab von Anfang an verloren  
Auf dem Irrweg ohne Ziel

Halt mich fest  
Lass mich los  
Gib mir den Schmerz, der uns beide trennt  
Und doch für immer vereint

Gnade  
Und wieder wirkt Dein bittersüßes Gift in mir  
Wenn blind vor Gier ich den Verstand in Dir verlier  
Doch wenn ich aufwach´, bist Du längst schon nicht mehr hier

umm...this is an excerpt of the lyrics of the song Gnade(Mercy) by Tanzwut(Dancefury). They fit really well to the story:

Helplessly I surrender

your rules your game

was lost from the start

on this meandering path without end

hold me tight

let me go

give me the pain that separates us

and yet unites us forever

Mercy!

And yet again your bittersweet poison works in me

as I blinded by greed lose my mind in you

but when I awake, you're long gone...

hehe. Normally I hate stuff like that...but you should try everything once. don't ask me why the lines are so weird. I tried to fix it with single-spacing but the computer wouldn't accept it.

All right, here's chappie 25

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Whore Street

Naruto groaned softly. He didn't think he'd ever... _never_... hurt this much before.

It was pitch-black around him, though he knew there was a light switch somewhere by the door.

Not that that helped him much. He growled helplessly, tugging at his bonds in vain. His wrists were tied together, the stiff rope cutting into his skin as he strained against it. It was looped around the bars of the headboard he knew was somewhere above his head in the darkness.

The mattress was hard and lumpy beneath him, and the sheet rasped against his wounds, stiff and abrasive with dried blood. The musty smell of _basement_ – old shoes, mildew, dust, rotting wood – permeated the air.

He didn't know how long he'd been here, only that _he _had come to him two times already, with his whip and toys and so much so much pain...

_God it hurts._

But the pain wasn't the worst. The worst were the memories that this place called up, memories of Slum Street, of those terrible parties where the men just wouldn't stop and you fell unconscious after three hours of relentless thrusting, panting, groaning...

His reaction to the place went even farther, delved even deeper into his mind, and memories that he had kept locked away already during the earliest Whore Street times flashed to the front of his mind, taunting him.

_Daddy?_

_Ow, Daddy, you're hurting m-me..._

_Please STOP it..._

_...D-daddy — _Naruto snarled helplessly, desperately into the darkness. God, he wanted it to stop! He tried to block them out, the images and the feelings and the pain that still made his body twinge in sympathy. It didn't work, the memories crashing over him --

_Heh – he's my best. Name's Naruto. Pretty new on Slum, but he'll do anything you tell him to. _

_... he'd lost count after the twenty-seventh customer got on top of him. The party was still in full swing, and he could hear Haku, Zabuza's prize whore, whimpering on the other side of the room. He clung to his last scraps of consciousness, Jiraiya'd kill him if he found out that he'd fainted..._

_Daddy! No! I don't want to!_

_You like that, don't you?_

_Please stop it – Jiraiya!_

_No -- _

_Daddy don't, stop it._

_Jiraiya! It's not my fault, I tried..._

_Oh...but you like it so much – you little slut. Admit it!_

_Daddy! Ow! What are you doing?_

_You should be used to it by now..._

_Jiraiya -- _

_Daddy -- _

_NOOO! _Naruto closed his eyes, choking on a sob.

Help...

He heard the door creak open, and the dingy light flickered to life. "And...how are we doing, pet?"

Naruto had recognized the voice the first time he heard it, threatening, in the hospital room. The cold, evil voice. He whimpered, unable to hide his fear, as the man got onto the bed, his strange slanted eyes roaming over Naurto's blood-stained body.

He hated that gaze. Like Gaara's – oh God, Gaara, he _missed_ him – it was heavy. But where Gaara's was exciting and challenged Naruto to somehow reply, this man's was like oil, filthy and greasy as it slid over him.

He watched the man slide that – that _thing _onto himself, trembling. He had been right about it, in the car.

They were hooks.

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hehe...well. PLOT(kind of). Guessed who it is already? The eyes, dudes, the eyes!

alrighty.

Review please. I still don't have any reviews for my last two updates.


	26. Chapter 26

Hi!

am getting no reviews. This seriously pisses me off. If I don't get more reviews soon, I'm going to go to sleep.

Randomness: Subway to Sally, "Henkersbraut".

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Whore Street

Sasuke was feeling like shit. His head pounded unmercifully. He curled up deeper under the blanket, his eyes squeezed shut.

The rest of the Konoha crew had left him alone since they returned from the hospital, about half an hour after he'd come back, crying, to hide in his bed. He could hear them talking softly in the background.

He wasn't sure anymore about his theory of eyeliner-man – okay, Gaara – being the kidnapper. Now that he'd calmed down, he even felt ashamed of it. Though only a tiny bit. It definitely made no sense anymore.

He was paralyzed inwardly – twice over.

One – Naruto.

Missing.

Completely.

Two – Gaara's confirmation of wild sex with Naruto.

Of course he'd known.

But... having the icy redhead admit it in front of him just...kind of blew out his fuses.

Sasuke shifted and sighed. Oh fucking hell. He was so... weak.

Behind Sasuke, Shino observed the black-haired kid. He'd heard of the fight and the sex-thing, and had a pretty good guess of what the kid's problem was. Hopefully he'd get over it before Kiba noticed it, because the dog-boy didn't have any patience for stuff like love-sickness.

Not that Shino did, but... he didn't mention it if someone suffered from it. Kiba, on the other hand...

...well.

Shino started as Kiba kissed his jaw. "Kiba..." he murmured.

They were sitting side-by-side, leaning against the Konoha's shopfront. It was close to sunset, though the dark, low-hanging clouds obscured that fact and the sky was a gray miasma. Whore Street was starting to fill up with sex workers, getting ready for the long night ahead. Tenten and Ino were whispering to each other, staring worriedly at Sasuke's curled-up form. Shikamaru was... well, Shikamaru was being Shikamaru, except for the little worried wrinkle between his eyebrows.

Naruto's absence from the Konoha had made a startling difference. Even though he usually slept more than he talked during the day, he was a kind of... focal point for the kids, and possibly the only one who was friends with everyone. Even Shikamaru had been seen talking to him once.

Kiba startled Shino out of his thoughts with another kiss. The younger kid frowned. "Kiba, I'm really not in the mood."

Kiba grinned toothily. "I know. Just... showing you how much I'd miss you... if something happened."

Yeah, Naruto's absence really made a difference.

Shino raised a surprised eyebrow. "Huh. What's gotten into you?"

Kiba didn't answer.

Shino shook his head slightly. The new disappearance-thing was really worrying everyone. They all feared for Naruto, he was pretty sure, and shock was also mixed in there somewhere.

Whore Street suddenly didn't seem safe anymore.

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heh. And in case you're wondering, Kiba and Shino are _not _ thinking of leaving.

People, I'm seriously not going to update until I get more reviews. This is getting on my nerves. If the chappies are that bad, then fucking tell me so.


	27. Chapter 27

hey...I'm not really sure how to continue, but...I'm working on it.

Randomness: Sonata Arctica. "The Cage-Vodka-hana nagila" (live)

oh, and its a time jump. Two days after last chappie(wah, poor Naruto!)

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Whore Street

Gaara had led the Forcer team to about ten possible hideouts of the... pseudo-Sandman...in the past two days, and each one had been a dead end. The redhead was becoming increasingly frustrated – at least, Iruka thought so, judging from all the scratches and cracks and whatnot that were appearing on his living room furniture – and it was hard to talk to him without receiving at least a threatening swipe of a hand formed into a claw or an icy glare. The Sandman was simmering just beneath the surface, rising at every opportunity.

It seemed as if Gaara had give up on the delicate game of clues and hint-dropping. He no longer led them to people who knew a little tidbit of information, a puzzle piece. He had finished the whole puzzle already, but for the last, central part, and he'd lost patience with the team's slow processing of the knowledge he'd given them.

Of course, this was all Iruka's interpretation. The redhead might just as well have been following some other insane urge.

"Okay. What are we overlooking?"

The team and Gaara were sitting, exhausted from the day's work, at their base of operations – a Force-owned warehouse that had been acquired especially for missions such as this, that should be hidden from the public. The main Force building was useless when it came to covering up any sort of info, since there were so many undercover-reporters working as janitors and whatnot and planting bugs in the most impossible places. And the fact that the Sandman was basically – sadly enough – running free wasn't at all a public-friendly one.

The warehouse was ancient, dating back to the 20th century. Its beams creaked threateningly at night, and the wind cut easily through the rotting walls. But it was all right, as long as you knew you _could_ sleep somewhere else once you couldn't stand it here anymore. Monitors glowed under the long neon lights, computers humming and beeping in the background. The uncomfortable metal chairs that the Force had grudgingly delivered to them scraped harshly over the cement floor as the team shifted uneasily.

Iruka sat back in his own seat, his mind working in long-familiar circles. He simply couldn't find another indication towards any specific place with the data he had. Gaara had showed them to the three they'd puzzled out on their own on the first day, and all others – about twenty – had been divined by following the redhead's lead.

Gaara leaned against the wall to Iruka's left, glaring at the ground and flexing his hand – a position that had become default since the day Naruto disappeared, replacing the old stillness. The connection wasn't lost on Iruka, and it worried him. Gaara _was _the Sandman, after all. He might be sure about the redhead's noninvolvement in the kid's kidnapping, but he wasn't certain whether his intentions for Naruto were any healthier than the ones of the criminal whose clutches he was currently in.

Iruka had been to visit the Konoha crew a few times in the past days, whenever he had free time. They were handling it well enough, with the exception of Sasuke. The black-haired kid had taken to smoking even more now, and worked just enough to pay for a bowl of ramen per day, spending the time sprawled listlessly on the mattress he usually shared with Naruto. The others' worry was almost evenly divided up between the apathetic Sasuke and the missing Naruto, coddling the black-haired kid half the time and discussing the blonde for the rest.

Kakashi had started basically camping out on his shop steps, aiding in either venture. Iruka had managed to dredge up the courage to start small talk with him a few times, and was planning to reward himself with asking the shopkeeper out on a date once this whole fiasco was finished. If Kakashi said no...well, then Iruka'd go out to a singles bar and find a no-strings-attached fuck.

But that was looking waaaay too far ahead. First, this had to be resolved. And Iruka wanted it to be solved, because not only was he worrying about Naruto at least as much as the rest of the Konoha crew – even his logical, serial killer-acquainted mind shied away from the thought of Naruto being dead already, refusing to accept the usual and accepted procedure among criminals as the truth – but also because he wanted... to _know_. About this criminal, who he was and why he did what he did.

One of his team members spoke. She was a slip of a girl, unremarkable. Iruka knew better, though. She was a genius when it came to logical combinations. Sadly, they were dealing with someone to whom logic was a foreign notion.

"What if we've just been completely wrong, and this killer isn't like the San – Gaara, at all? Maybe --"

-- SKREEEEEE! --

They all looked over at Gaara, shocked and with ringing ears. The redhead's hand, crooked into a claw, had carved a shrill arc on the metal of the wall, the material screeching in protest as his nails slid over it. As they watched, completely confused, the tall, slender form pivoted and walked swiftly to the warehouse entrance. At the door, he paused, half-turning and giving them his most icy glare.

Iruka finally understood. "Come on, let's go!"

The team members who usually accompanied these hide-out searches stood quickly, checking their belts and packs for their equipment before hurrying after Gaara, who had already continued out the door. Iruka's heart pounded as he followed them. Gaara had never showed his willingness to lead them somewhere so clearly, and the Forcer hoped with all his self that that meant that this was _it_, as in the solution.

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yum. Even more plot.

Thankees to the ones who hurried to review after my threat in chappie 26!

and thankees to Arie Date, who has risen from the dead!


	28. Chapter 28

hmm...chap 28!

I'm not sure, but somehow a mysterious force within me says the story is drawing to a close... maybe another five chappies or so...(with this remark I've probably jinxed it to become neverending...)

hmm... If my suspicion proves correct...anybody have a plot bunny they wanna get rid of? I've got some empty cages!

OMG I REACHED THE 100 REVIEW MARK! AND THE 30000 WORD MARK! I LOVE YOU GUYS SOOOO MUCH!

°catches breath°

bladeboy, herewith I name you the hundredth reviewer of my first ever fic. You get...cookies. And some ramen. Love you!

Randomness: Apocalyptica. "Refuse – Resist."

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Whore Street

Pain.

Fear.

_No...daddy!_

_Jiraiya – please STOP!_

Naruto sobbed brokenly into the blood-stiffened mattress, his aching, abused body cringing away from the memories as they hushed, snickering evilly, through his mind. God...how long had it been now? He'd stopped counting how often _he _came in, not able to take the knowledge of how many times _he _had 'played' with him, destroyed his body and mind with his disgusting toys and words.

And these memories...such torture! Worse even than _his_ sick ideas and the filthy things _he_ whispered sibilantly into Naruto's ear. The blonde's thoughts were fixed on the darkest experiences he'd lived through. He felt only his father's touches and thrusts, not recalling the happy times – he relived only Jiraiya's anger, the few rewards he'd received forgotten.

The last torture, the deepest pain, came from Gaara. From not being able to think of Gaara, because the memories of pain, no matter how delicious, called up memories of other, dirty and shameful pain. He missed the redhead so badly that he couldn't breathe at times, his heart constricting beneath his cracked ribs.

Nothing eased his agony, no amount of moving or shifting or hiding. He couldn't escape it, because --

-- it was _inside_ of him.

Pain continued to hammer into him, mentally and physically, and he found short relief from time to time by slipping into uneasy unconsciousness. But there the physical hurt was his enemy, too much to sleep through but not enough to keep him unaware.

Naruto groaned an image of Jiraiya away, only to find it replaced by his father, eager and rough on his yet-too-small body. He whimpered. God...

...he didn't know how long he would be able to stand this. Or even how long he _wanted_ to stand this. His breath already came in pained gasps, every moment an eternity of fear. He could feel himself giving in – death would be so much easier than this, so much better...

The door opened, and he froze. His whole body tensed up and he whimpered again.

_No_...

"Hello, pet." The light turned on, and the man sat on the bed, the mattress creaking in protest.

Naruto gasped in panic as the cold, clammy hand slid over the back of his thigh, over the kanji. Naruto had been relieved almost to tears when _he _had left it untouched, had praised it even. At least that... at least that he could keep.

"Now, though this is a very pretty sign and quite fits to you..." There was a trace of a smirk in the icy voice.

"Please, please don't..." Naruto whispered desperately. "Please leave it --"

The man ignored him. "...There's one major flaw in it."

_He_ leaned over Naruto's shivering form, _his_ breath hissing along the blonde's neck. "...I didn't do it."

Naruto shrieked as a jagged blade settled onto his thigh. "NO! Don't --"

He moaned in fear. He _needed_ the sign. Without it, he was nothing. Without that connection to Gaara, he would be lost forever in this darkness, this endless cycle of agony.

The man chuckled. "Ah – you are so responsive! By all rights, you should be comatose with shock and blood loss...amazing."

The knife began to press into the skin, Naruto sobbed harder, the man hissed in amusement --

-- and the door squeaked open on tis rusty hinges.

Naruto tried to crane his neck around to see who the intruder was as _he_ moved away and muttered, "Who the hell are you?"

When there was no answer beyond the man's gasp of pain, Naruto wondered whether...

He tugged at his bonds, frustrated. What was going on? He heard a crash as something fell with a loud thud, and tugged harder. He had to stop, though, as one of his broken ribs shifted and ground beneath his skin. Helpless, he lay still, trying in vain to catch a glimpse of what was going on.

Naruto heard a succession of deep groans from his captor, then there was silence.

He couldn't turn his head enough to see more than pants and lower shirt of his 'savior' as his bonds were cut swiftly and angrily, but it was enough.

"Gaara..." he whimpered, breaking into tears.

The Sandman pulled him into a sitting position, forcing a shriek from Naruto's lips, and dragged his eyes over his form. Naruto shivered. Gaara's eyes...

They were hard as crystal, and just as cold.

He tensed, wondering whether this was the end for him. Huh. Saved from one freak by another, then killed that one. He almost laughed at that one.

Instead of killing him, though, Gaara stood again and his eyes shifted to a black -clad heap on the floor – _him. _The hardness in his eyes became even more pronounced, the teal almost metallic. His left hand curled into a parody of the victory sign, middle and index finger crooked and flexed.

Naruto watched him, frozen,as the redhead kicked _him _to lie on his back. The slanted reptilian eyes fluttered open, the sensuous lips curling into a snarl. _He_ tried to get up, but Gaara's foot forced him back down.

The Sandman knelt in front of the trembling man, and Naruto held his breath as the claw-hand tore across the sharp-chinned face, blood spraying in the pale fingers' wake --

-- _he _screamed, a sound of incredible pain and fear --

-- and Gaara was suddenly twirling a knife in his hand – no, not any knife, _his _knife – , the blade flashed down...

Naruto was too weak to watch this, he decided, and promptly fainted dead away.

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hehe...Orochimaru bashing...and fun!

And there was even a bit of plot in it!

liked it?

Tell me!

Randomness: Nirvana. "Breed".


	29. Chapter 29

Hi!

love you all, and thankees to Tenka-chan for swearing your loyalty to me.

Also thankees to Arie Date for her continuing support!

Randomness: Rammstein. "Morgenstern."

here's 29!

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Whore Street

They had lost Gaara soon after entering the house. A dark, elaborate mansion, it stood on the complete outskirts of the City, having even the luxury of a wild garden. The next houses were at least a mile away, and the same kind; old, impressive monoliths of carvings and bay windows and all that 19th century stuff.

The place was oppressively quiet, and the team walked nervously through the grand corridors and up the sweeping staircases. Iruka had no idea what had gotten Gaara onto this... to his disappointment, it looked to become another dead end.

The house wasn't obviously inhabited, most of the rooms dark and no personal objects anywhere.

His team relaxed once they reached the third floor and it also proved to be empty. The only thing that was of any notice about the place were the snakes. There were likenesses everywhere, and Iruka doubted there was any object here that sported none of the winding reptiles.

Sighing, Iruka was about to order the return to the base when the scream echoed, muffled by walls and floors, through the empty house.

The Forcers immediately followed the noise down. It took them an agonizing twenty minutes to find the small door under the staircase in the entrance hall, during which more screams sounded, pain-filled and panicked. They scrambled through the little entrance, silent with tension and nervousness.

The low corridor that lay behind the door was bare and relatively new(as in under a hundred years); a monstrous break with the rest of the house, it was simple poured concrete. A few doors led off of it, plain aluminum, and Iruka left people behind to check on each. At last, only he and two other Forcers remained, walking towards the last door.

The screams were much louder here, and Iruka realized, with a sigh of relief, that they most certainly weren't Naruto's. Though he wasn't sure whether that was a good thing, on retrospect. A screaming Naruto would at least be a living Naruto.

They reached the door just as the most pain-filled shriek yet sounded, and Iruka pushed the door open slowly, his shock-gun at the ready.

His eyes glanced over the room, noting Naruto's bloody, still form on the bed and forcing him to take a worried step forward – until his gaze reached the source of the screeches.

Oh _fuck_... he resisted an extremely strong urge to vomit. The Forcers behind him sounded like they were having the same problem.

Gaara...the Sandman... was squatting next to a quivering, sobbing mass of what could only be described as...

..._meat_.

His arms were soaked red to the elbow, his clothes soaked with blood. His face was impassive, the flat eyes roaming over his victim with – Iruka guessed – hidden relish. He had noticed the Forcers come in, the man was sure. But his attention stayed on the bloody mess in front of him as the saw-edged knife – decorated with a snake – sliced off another piece of pale skin.

Iruka swallowed hard. He couldn't watch this. And who knew what the Sandman would do if he went in now to...

... to what?

He stepped back, closing the door.

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heh. Gaara doesn't like being copied, Orochimaru.

Oh, and many thanks to Arie Date for suggesting that Gaara put Orochi's spiked toy on a bedpost and rape our Sandman-wannabe with said contraption. Isn't that a hilarious idea?

Does anyone here know in which corner of the world Dualism lives? I miss her comments and somehow I always miss her online-time.

Review! REALLY! I'm getting suspiciously little feedback! You all know that little feedback mean little updates!


	30. Chapter 30

hi...love you all!

here's 30.

randomness: Rammstein. "Engel." Annoying song.

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Whore Street

The Forcer team had camped out on the lawn. It was the closest they could get to monitoring Gaara's whereabouts and Naruto's wellbeing without hearing the screams. The sky was pitch-black now, and Iruka's wristwatch said 1:41. He was nervous. Not about the dead -- technically still _dying – _criminal, though it disappointed him that he wouldn't be able to find out more about him. The Forcer's superiors didn't care in what state their scapegoat was, as long as they had one. And if Gaara got into trouble...well, the Sandman was pretty much free to go no matter how hard they tried to keep him close. If he wanted to avoid trouble, he would.

No, Iruka was worried about Naruto. Gaara had been completely Sandman down there, and if Iruka had had more sense and courage at the time, he would have -- should have – braved the Sandman's fury and just gotten the kid out of there. If the Sandman wasn't satisfied with the kidnapper...

A shiver scurried up Iruka's spine. He turned to the Forcer in charge of their radlink with the base. "Did you tell them everything?"

The rest of the team had found their own share of appetite-killing sights in the other rooms. Seemed as though this man hadn't possessed the Sandman's finesse when it came to disposing of corpses, and had simply put the hacked up bodies into huge freezers that filled every available space. The idea brought other tastes to mind, things like cannibalism and whatnot, but in the interest of keeping something in his stomach Iruka chose not to explore the possibilities.

The radlink-Forcer nodded. "Yeah. They're already typing up a report."

"Good. We have to go back down and catalog all of it once..." he waved his hand wearily, and the others understood.

God. Why _him?_ Was he that annoying to the whatevers up there? He massaged the bridge of his nose.

Well, at least now he could reward himself by asking Kakashi for a date. Or something.

An especially loud scream penetrated the still night, only a pathetic, muffled cry out here. Iruka didn't want to know what Gaara was doing _now_.

He tried to find some reaction within himself to this... solving of the case. He'd really have to ask what actually got this place into Gaara's head. He was happy, sure. And he felt a bit of that motivation loss one always got after finishing something up that had taken almost all of your time for a while, the listlessness that followed the completion of a large project.

Huh. Strange. Maybe it just had to sink in a bit before he really registered it. Or maybe he was feeling a bit unnecessary because it had actually all been Gaara.

He heard a couple of the other Forcers gasp, and looked up at the house's elaborate Victorian porch.

Speak of the devil.

Gaara was Gaara, his eyes teal but not iron, and his clothes were covered in blood. His arms were soaked to the biceps now, and he still held the knife loosely in one hand. He walked past the silent group sprawled and sitting on the lawn, completely ignoring them.

Iruka turned his head to watch the tall, slim figure leave the house's grounds and pass by the Force cars they'd taken here. Soon Gaara was too far away to pick out in the darkness, and Iruka sighed. He wasn't sure whether the sound was relieved or angry.

He somehow knew that this time, Gaara wasn't coming back.

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HAHAHAHAHA!

I'll bet you wanna know whether Naruto is down there dead or not... have to wait and see!

Please review!


	31. Chapter 31

Hey!

here's 31!

randomness: Subway to Sally, "Mephisto."(live)

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Whore Street

Huh. Why did this puke-green look so familiar?

Naruto opened his eyes wider, and almost shut them again. Oh God. Why?

Sakura smiled her horribly sweet smile at him and said – nearly splitting his head open with the sound --, "And? How are we feeling, Sleeping Slut?"

Suddenly babbling broke out all around him, reinforcing the feeling that someone was repeatedly slamming a blunt, hard and heavy object on his skull.

"Are you all right?"

"He's awake!"

"Dobe?"

"How are you feeling?"

He groaned. "Please...please...just _shut up_."

Everything went quiet again, and he could see nine faces – ten including Sakura's – peering down at him worriedly.

"Wh – what happened?" The last thing he remembered was the knife, arcing down into _his _flesh.

Another storm of yelling and talking --

He gave up and pulled the blanket over his head, feeling distinctly repetitive. Hadn't the last time with the crew in his room gone like this too?

He stayed in that position for a long while, as it darkened beyond the blanket and the door opened and closed several times. He passed the time by taking stock of his injuries, and annoyingly that filled it easily. He now _truly_ felt like Raggedy Ann.

When he finally poked his head out again, he was alone in the room but for Sasuke. He forced a smile and said softly, "Hey."

The black-haired boy nodded. "Hey."

"How long have I been out, teme?"

"Four days."

Naruto raised a stitched eyebrow, regretting the movement immediately. "Fuck – so what happened?"

"Iruka's team found you, and got you here."

And what was with Gaara? Naruto didn't ask, remembering Sasuke's reaction to the redhead the last few times. Instead, he cocked his head and said, "Do you know when I'm going to be released?"

"Sakura said that you'd need at least a week till the stitches came out."

Naruto groaned. "Ugh. This is going to be soooo boring."

The black-haired kid grinned. "Yeah, it is."

They made more small talk for almost two hours before Sasuke left for work, and once he'd gone Naruto sat back into his pillows. Something was wrong. He needed Gaara. But somehow... he knew something wasn't right – something with Gaara.

The answer came barely ten minutes later in the form of an uneasy Iruka. He sat down , looking nervous, next to Naruto's bed. He avoided Naruto's gaze.

"Hey, Iruka-san! I heard you're my savior." Naruto was getting increasingly agitated about this... unknowing.

The Forcer nodded, a weird expression on his face. "Naruto..."

"What?" God...he just _knew _that this was something bad...

"About---"

"FUCK! What about Gaara! Just _say_ it, dammit!"

The Forcer started, and almost smiled. Then he grew grim or whatever it was again. "He's gone."

Naruto exhaled a noisy, shocked breath. "Gone as in what?"

"As in evaporated into thin air. He's somewhere out in the City."

_God, why did this hurt so much?_ He'd known it was possible, even expected it...

_Oh fuck..._

_I can't take this._

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hehe.

A twistie twist.

Review!

And dualism, if you're still on – I replied. Check your email, dammit.


	32. Chapter 32

Hi!

Midnight here.

Here's 32.

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Whore Street

Sasuke watched Naruto pick at his food with something very close to disgust. The younger boy had become... strange... in the past days at the hospital.

The black-haired kid knew that it had something to do with eyeliner-man. Not that Naruto _told_ him anything. The blonde was bouncy and hyper and whatnot all, but it was _too _much. It was unnatural, and even the rest of the Konoha crew – despite visiting for only an hour or so each day opposed to Sasuke's twelve-hour vigils – had begun to worry about the strange behavior.

Sasuke had been able to brush his doubts away with the complete happiness that Naruto was alive and nice to him – but it was just so _fake_, this strange cheerfulness, that he'd been forced to acknowledge it after a while.

Yes, it was something with Gaara.

Iruka ghosted in at times, sharing meaningful looks with Naruto before leaving. It looked as though he and Kakashi had most certainly gotten over their shyness, if the screams and moans of the past few nights were any indication.

The rest of the Konoha crew was almost back to normal, though Naruto's absence was still disturbing to all of them. Shikamaru had returned to his staring at the awning, the girls had gone back to playing cards, Kiba and Shino had gone back to begging after taking a break during the days while Naruto was missing. It was basically all default again, and Sasuke could lie and tell himself that the last step towards normality would be Naruto coming home to sleep next to him.

But he didn't tell himself that untruth.

He watched Naruto eat -- well, nibble. Whenever the blonde let his guard down, he looked depressed as fuck.

Like now – eyes flat and dark, mouth a firm line.

Shit. Sasuke would rather have Gaara here, fucking Naruto, every night and obviously than this... nothingness.

The neutral feeling had resurfaced, and Sasuke felt as though he'd probably fall to his knees in front of Gaara if he ever reappeared. He was seemingly the only who could fix this... problem of the blonde's. After all, they'd tried about everything else – even some of the whores from other cliques had come to visit.

"Hey, teme! What's wrong? You look like you're being led to your execution!" came Naruto's mocking voice, the happy mask fully back in place.

Sasuke grinned wearily. "Yeah. I'm being hanged. Just got the message."

Naruto's chuckle was fake, like his grin was fake and his appetite was fake and his whole healthiness was fake.

_Fake._

For fuck's sake, where was Gaara?

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hey guys!

fell asleep for a few hours, came back -- 12 alerts °sighs happily°

LUV YOU AAAAAAAAAALL!

it is now 3:40 and I'm drinking gin(ugh – my roommates drank all our vodka) and eating cookies to stay awake.

Tell me whether you liked it!


	33. Chapter 33

Hi! wow.

Randomness: Schandmaul. "Der Poet."

huh. Well, here's chappie 33 and I am giving out cookies to each reviewer. The readers get cookie crumbles... have to be economic, ya know.

Fuck, I HATE gin...ugh. But it's alcohol.

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Whore Street

The sky was overcast, Whore Street deserted in the cold wind and cloudyness.

Lee looked up at the window expectantly. Sure enough, it soon opened and Neji leaned out. "Hey."

"Hey."

"What's up? You're awake early."

"Yeah. I-I was wondering whether we could..." Lee's voice trailed off.

Neji smiled slowly. "...Sure."

Lee punched the air.

The other kid cocked his head. "Where?"

"We could go catch a virtvid."

"Okay."

"Oh no."

"Okay."

"Please... Neji – quit?"

"Okay."

Shino leaned back against Kiba, frowning a bit at the other's wandering hands but not protesting. The space under the awning was quiet in the pre-evening greyness, the girls and Shikamaru silent. Kakashi was on a date. With Iruka.

Shino let Kiba kiss his neck with a little gasp, his eyes narrowing as they alighted on a tail-wagging Akamaru. "What, mutt?"

Kiba chuckled into his skin and murmured, "Hey, Shino."

"What?"

"Can we go on a date?"

Shino had never felt so shocked in his life.

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Short, yeah, but a peek at the others.

Heh.

Tell me what ya think!

oh, right. Cookies for all!


	34. Chapter 34

hehehehe...maybe(!) Gaara'll be back in here!

oh and to clear up any confusion about the time;

chap 32 and 33 were both on like the fifth day of Naruto's hospitalization.

This chappie is...(yes I know it sounds extreme)...a week after he gets out from under Sakura's tyranny. This means that our little blondie has gone without Gaara(not counting the Orochi-torture-fest) for scary two weeks and two days! Poor thing!

Gin bottle still isn't empty...

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Whore Street

It was freezing. Naruto hugged himself, pulling his leather jacket close around himself. The cold, clear night was hectic with car lights and honking and low, seductive murmurs. A soft sprinkling of snow floated to the concrete, dusting the gleaming cars and frosting the whores' coats and hair.

He could see a couple others from the Konoha group, bent over windows and whispering soft promises into the warm cars. Naruto headed for one as well, leaning over the rolled-down window and making his offer. In the winter, the prices rose by one cel. Hell, they froze their asses off, it was only fair.

The customer, an unremarkable, pudgy old man, told him to get in and they drove to the parking lot, where after fifteen minutes of minimum effort Naruto had the customer reduced to a pile of sobbing pleasure. The dude paid, and he was back on the Street curb, feeling a bit warmer and also a bit stickier.

He exhaled, his breath a white plume in the air.

He had never before understood Shikamaru as much as he did now.

Naruto couldn't find any enthusiasm for anything inside himself. These days it was a Herculean feat to get to the Arcade and wash up. He slept through the rest of the day. Not even the promise of ramen could get him to eat, and though he could slowly feel the debilitating effects of insufficient nutrition, he just didn't have enough motivation to stand up and get himself something to eat.

He hid it all from the others, and he knew that though they worried about him, it was only because his masks were too obviously fake. They didn't see his listlessness, only a strange over-exuberance that had them stressing about exactly the wrong things – they thought he was too excited, too hyped up, as a result of the kidnapping.

He snorted softly

The kidnapping had absolutely nothing to do with it. Once he'd left with another client and had collected his five cel after a half hour of heavy breathing and groans, he stayed standing on the curb and remembered.

_Gaara._

He'd heard of Sasuke's outburst about Gaara and his... nightly adventures..., but hadn't found the drive to talk to the black-haired boy about it. Naruto lived only for one thing now, and it was what he expended his all of his dwindling energy on.

Recalling three days.

Three days of...

..._happiness_.

Moisture pricked behind his eyes, his throat clogged with a painful lump.

Oh, God.

_Gaara..._

He was dying.

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wow. Talk about angst.

Still got some gin left, and at a quarter to five it's getting light outside! Dawn ahoy!

review!


	35. Chapter 35

Hehe. I'll try to make this a bit longer, though I've actually got no idea what I'm gonna write yet.

And yup, I'm stilling sipping away at the shit. It tastes bad enough to keep me awake.

Here we go, chappie 35!

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Whore Street

Naruto crouched down, his back against the cold rough concrete of the wall.

_-- he could only moan and gasp and pant and try to choke out the redhead's name as heat built in his lower back, unbearable and yet so sweet -- _

A soft sob escaped into the snow-misted air.

The space between the buildings was deserted, shadows shifting fluidly behind the scattered white flocks that drifted silently and beautifully to the pebble-strewn ground.

_--"Well, then you must not be normal..." -- _

No, dammit! He wasn't normal! Not anymore!

Not since Gaara...

Not since Gaara had pinned him against the Force car and --

--_ claimed him_ --

-- with those bottomless eyes.

Not since...

... _the knife slit a hot, wild trail up his inner thigh._.. .

..._Ai._

_-- a gift?_

His breathing deteriorated into short, desperate gasps as he reached into his jacket pocket for the only thing that could take the edge off his pain, even though it didn't have the power to vanquish it completely.

Naruto slid the blade up his forearm, testing it on his skin as had become his ritual. Gaara's gift... only it and the kanji on his thigh remained.

He whimpered in pleasure, slicing open an old scar, a scar that dated back to the cutting he'd done on Slum. The evenly placed lines covered his forearms, but on Slum it had been an outlet for pain, a way to fight pain with pain. Now he repeated the motions with a gift, and the action became a way to combat agony with pleasure. He cut again, another scar opening slowly beneath the wickedly sharp knife.

His blood gleamed in the darkness, the snowflakes around him melting on his bared arm as the crimson liquid pooled in the hollow formed by his tensed muscles. He continued, moaning in earnest... his body trembled, not able to support the crouch anymore, and he fell to a kneel, his bloody arm supporting him and the knife-wielding hand slipping under his sweatshirt --

-- _oh yes, Gaara..._ he could see him, feel him inside him... _own me_--

Naruto groaned breathlessly, his eyes fixed on the red stain spreading on the snow-sprinkled ground beneath him, his blood twining around his arm like ivy as it flowed towards the pristine layer of white--

-- the knife under his sweatshirt carved a swift, burning arc around his bellybutton --

".._G-gaara..."_

-- the belt tore into him, Gaara pounding him into the bed --

..._YOURS!_...

A strangled shriek broke from Naruto's lips as he came, his body collapsing on the cold ground. He felt the snow seeping through his jeans as it melted, but he didn't care. He panted heavily, his hand wiping the knife on his jeans before slipping it back into his coat.

He broke into tears, tasting salt and sweet as the snow mingled with them. The bleeding on his arm had slowed slightly, though not enough, and Naruto knew he would _have _to eat something if he wanted to survive this with no one finding out, because he had been doing this for a week with one bowl of ramen as his only meal throughout it. He wasn't sure whether he cared.

What was he without Gaara, after all?

Was he something that had a reason to live?

_You own me._

_Please...come back._

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wow. More angsting. And bloody self-pleasuring.

You like?

Just gathering my courage to drink the last sip of gin. 5:40 here.


	36. Chapter 36

Tenka-chan, I love you.

Dualism, I love you.

Arie Date, I lo...

Okay, since telling everyone(OMG!So many reviewers! °squeals°) would take waaaaaay too long, I'll just hope you get the message.

Randomness: Tanzwut, "Nein Nein."

Here's 36! And I'm close to the 150 rev. mark! Help me get there, people!

Oh, and the gin is empty. I think we still have brandy...

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Whore Street

Sasuke watched, half-hidden by the wall and the swirling snow, as Naruto cried Gaara's name. The black-haired boy bit his lip as the thin body collapsed, whimpering with pleasure and yet sobbing with loss – sadness – something. He supported himself on the wall as his own peak neared. It was a pathetic truth that he didn't even need to touch himself – simply watching was enough, imagining those pleasured sounds coming from _his_ hands, from _his _thrusts.

He moaned softly and closed his eyes, his breath releasing in a strangled sigh as he went over the edge to the sound of Naruto's sobbing. It took only the smallest bit of imagination to change the pain lacing the sounds into pleasure. He leaned against the wall and let his respiration calm down.

Sasuke sighed in satisfaction. This was the fourth night that he'd watched Naruto pleasure himself to thoughts of the redhead, the fourth night he'd heard Gaara's name called in the throes of a bloody climax.

He was the only one among the Konoha crew who knew of this, who saw a bit of the pain behind Naruto's facade. It gave him both a feeling of... pride, and of urgency. He knew that Naruto needed to stop this, but he couldn't tell him. Just as Naruto cried Gaara's name in absolute need and surrender, Sasuke's body and soul cried Naruto's, day and night, constantly. This was his only possibility of release, and he didn't want to – physically was unable to – destroy it.

Sasuke gazed up into the whirling snow and lit a cigarette, walking in the direction of the Arcade to clean himself up.

Behind him, he heard the faint rustle of clothing and the scrape of shoes on concrete. Naruto was getting up.

Naruto blinked, trying to clear his sight. He was dizzy, his head spinning and bright dots dancing in his vision. He slowly made his way toward the Street, determined to finally eat something. This was pathetic.

He needed to clean himself up as well, but he forewent that for now, feeling too exhausted to make his way to the Arcade. It was late – he'd waited for the business on the Street to die down before slipping away to his relief -- , and the sky was almost imperceptibly lightening.

Naruto made his way past the shifting and muttering junkies, past the Konoha where everyone except Shikamaru was asleep, and finally reached the ramen place, wading through a mess of tranny clothes and shit. He ordered a bowl of ramen in a hoarse, exhausted voice, and the ramen man favored him with a worried frown.

"Kiddo, you're not looking too good. Maybe you should go to the hospital."

Naruto grinned weakly. "Been there, done that, man. Believe me, not the most skilled medic in the world could keep me healthy."

The ramen man smiled. "Ah. Lovesickness, then."

Naruto looked at him, shocked to silence. _What?_ How did he – Because there was no sense in denying it, even though it was more obsession than love – was he _that _obvious?

Oh fuck, he didn't want to take this anymore

"_Gaara..._" he whispered. "_Dammit...come BACK."_

He was still dying his slow death. What could he do?

How did one find the Sandman in the depths of the City that was his stomping ground?

He knew the answer well, and it flashed bleakly through his mind as he watched the ramen man heap a bowl full with noodles.

You didn't.

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God, more moping. I really need that brandy.

I GOT 150 REVIEWS!

next chappie is Gaara for sure...

Okay?

So review.


	37. Chapter 37

Hey! I think I promised Gaa-chan for this chap!

Let's see whether he turns up!

love you all!

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Whore Street

It continued snowing the next day, the white flakes thickening into a curtain that obscured the opposite side of the street. The sidewalk turned to slush, and the street's asphalt was covered with and inches-thick layer of grayish-brown sludge. Naruto slept as he always did, refusing Sasuke's offer to go wash up and leaving alone for the Arcade at around seven.

Once he'd finished scrubbing himself, shivering, with the icy water, he left the Arcade and walked in the opposite direction of the Konoha, past the parking lot. The snow swirled around his form, clinging to his jeans and frosting his hair. The white weight of the sky was slowly darkening to a cool, distant blue. His bag bounced at his hip, his trainers sqelched in the slush, and his jeans slowly but surely soaked through.

The energy he'd gotten from last night's ramen still coursed through his system, and he doodled a bit in the wet mush of melted snow beneath his feet, creating smileys and angels and shit as he walked. He didn't know where he was going, but he didn't feel like he needed to.

He reached the next bus stop thatcame afterWhore Street and got into a bus, not even noting the line.

He got out again twenty minutes later, and in his numb state he barely even started when he took in his surroundings.

Dreary, run-down buildings lined the narrow, winding street. They were packed tightly, but Naruto knew that there were alleys between some of them that had small, crooked doors at their ends. And beyond those doors...

The snow drifted noiselessly down onto the deserted street, the only activity at the dingy bars and fast-food places. Somewhere a radio played a new song on high volume, a baby screamed. A woman laughed, and a car crept by through the slippery congealed mess on the street.

Slum Street.

He turned around a few times, unsure. Finally he settled on a direction and walked off, unhurried.

No dark memories hissed at him through the snow. No fear paralyzed him as he passed the alley that led to Jiraiya's brothel, then the one that led to Kisame's. He slowed when he reached the gap that led to Zabuza's place. A slender, small figure leaned against the wall of one of the flanking houses, smoking. There was an amazing elegance in the simplest of his movements, when he flicked ash off of the cancer or shifted a bit. His long, fur-trimmed red coat was old and threadbare in places, his left eye dark with a fading bruise.

His face was a doll's – exquisite. The sensual lips broke into a shocked laugh when he saw Naruto. "Naruto! Oh my god, what are you doing here?"

"Hey, Haku."

They hugged with the ease of long familiarity. Haku smiled breathlessly up at the blonde. "Tell me, tell me! What's going on?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't really know."

Haku tossed his cig down with careless, fluid grace and ground it out with his boot. "Come on, let's go to a bar and drink something. Then you can tell me. God, it's been ages! The last time you visited was months ago!"

°

Haku stared at Naruto for a long time after he'd finished. He smoked in his beautiful, subconscious way, his brow furrowed.

Naruto gazed down into the recesses of his cup of laced coffee. The bar was one of their old common favorites, a smoky little place with dim lighting and a constant staff of drunks at the counter. It was charmingly sick. The barkeeper spent his time wiping the same glass dry over and over and trying to scare possible customers away.

Haku laughed suddenly. "Man, that is... wow. The _Sandman_. And I thought _I _had bad taste."

Naruto gestured to the other boy's bruised eye. "How is it with Zabuza?"

Haku shrugged. "As always. I work, he finds a mistake I made, I apologize, he beats me, he apologizes, then we make up in bed."

Naruto shook his head. "You know, I used to think you were crazy for going through all of that shit with Zabuza, but--"

"But now you've felt it firsthand, huh? Beatings can feel good. It depends on what you feel for the person delivering them." Haku smiled.

"Do you have advice for me?"

"Well, the most obvious thing would be to find him, wouldn't it?"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I _had_ thought of that, once or twice... a minute. But how?"

"Huh... right, I get the problem. Finding the _Sandman_ in the depths of the City..."

"Exactly."

Haku sighed. "Sorry, but I can't help you. All I can tell you is that you're pretty far gone on this dude. And you seem to have known that already."

Naruto grinned weakly. "Yeah."

They caught up on acquaintances and gossip for a while until Haku had to go to work. As they said goodbye in front of the way to Zabuza's brothel, he murmured, "I hope you have as much luck with your icicle as I had with mine, Naruto."

Naruto chuckled and watched him disappear into the alley. He walked to the bus stop, wanting to be off Slum before the rush hour started. He cast a half-wary glance into the shadows around the entrance to Jiraiya's brothel, but nothing threatening moved out towards him, not even a memory.

No, the only memories tormenting him were the happiest ones he had.

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okaaaay...that was so not planned. Gaa-chan is NEXT chappie, but this time really!

review, please.


	38. Chapter 38

Yesyesyesyes, Gaa-chan WILL show up now.

I will force him to.°cackles°

Love you guys!

Randomness: Korpiklaani, "Happy Little Boozer."

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Whore Street

He was in the gap between the buildings again, just back from Slum. He sat with his back against the wall, his legs bent at the knee. He stared up into the snow, his cold fingers caressing the knife.

He wouldn't work tonight.

Naruto sighed and closed his eyes. God. So fucking hard, this love shit.

_Ai._

Yeah right. As if. He'd have long been back if --

His appearance was completely unspectacular.

Naruto heard the snow crunch, opened his eyes...

He stood, leaning against the opposite wall. His hands were in his pockets and his eyes glowed.

For a moment, there was silence. Then --

"Oh God..." Naruto felt a tear run down his cheek. "Where _were_ you?"

Gaara didn't answer, and Naruto got up shakily, slipping the knife into his pocket. He walked up to the Sandman and crushed his lips to those thin, pale ones, because in all his reliving of the memories--

--he'd realized that there had been no kiss.

When Gaara pushed him away roughly, Naruto bit his lip and looked down at the layer of snow. "Can't you give me at least that? So that I can get over you?" he whispered painfully.

A hand gripped his chin and forced his face up. The teal eyes narrowed, drowning Naruto as they had the first time he'd seen them. _Gaara..._

Suddenly he was up against the wall, and a tongue was forcing its way into his mouth as one hand slid behind his head and the other retrieved the knife from his pocket. The metal slid icy across his cheek.

_Oh God -- _

Much too quickly, it was over, and Naruto sagged, panting, against the wall. Gaara stared down at him, the knife now tracing the blonde's lips.

"What do you _want? _I can't take this, Gaara! I nearly fucking died because I didn't have you! Why can't you just... set me free?"

The redhead barely shook his head.

"_What? Tell _me! I'm not a mind reader!" Naruto's pain, all the need of the last weeks...it crashed over him and he screamed it into Gaara's face, venting his agony by ineffectually pounding on the redhead's chest. "Did you hear me? _I can't take this!"_

Gaara didn't react, his impassive face watching without any reply as Naruto fell to a kneel in front of him, sobbing softly.

"Fuck, Gaara – you _own _me." It was a low, agonized moan.

There was silence for a long, cold while. The snowflakes sifted down to form a new pristine layer of white dust. Then the redhead pulled Naruto up to his feet with his free hand, and walked off into the alley, the knife still gleaming in his hand. He stopped after a few yards and cast Naruto an almost impatient glare. The blonde got the message and quickly followed the Sandman into the gloom.

His mind couldn't even hope to keep up with all the shortcuts and little alleys and park paths they took. His only orientation was Gaara's back, a swatch of light material in the snow-sprinkled blackness. They were silent, Naruto not being able to truly believe this whole situation yet and Gaara...well, Gaara being Gaara.

Naruto vaguely noted the outlines of tall apartment blocks looming against the star-constellated sky, half-obscured by the snow, and suddenly they were directly in front of one, Gaara slipping a key into the lock and leading Naruto up the hushed, bluish-dark stairwell.

Naruto rubbed his hands together, trying to get the cold out of them. He huffed out a small laugh. "Gaara... I do believe you live in a family-block."

Family-blocks were apartment blocks built by the State or the City for young families. They were never luxurious, but they were cheap and an easy way to get out from under the parents' and in-laws' scrutiny. They stabbed up in the City skyline, great forests of tall rectangular buildings.

The redhead favored him with his almost-grin in the blue gloom, and Naruto felt --

-- _healthy and happy again_, his mind sighed in relief.

They climbed for a while – the City saved on elevators; thank God Gaara didn't live on the top floor, even if it felt like it to Naruto's lungs – until Gaara opened a second door, slipping inside. Naruto followed, unsure of what to expect.

The apartment was a typical family-block design; a short corridor, entrance at the beginning and bathroom at the end, kitchen and living room on the right, bedroom and storage closet on the left. Naruto slipped his soaked shoes off before stepping onto the carpet. Gaara had disappeared somewhere, and the shifting darkness made it hard to see much.

Naruto walked farther into the corridor. "Gaa – _ah_!"

Those sharp teeth bit down on his neck, the tongue quickly lapping the blood as Gaara maneuvered Naruto into what the blonde guessed was the bedroom. The younger kid's clothes fell on the way, and by the time the redhead pushed him down on the futon he was wearing only his jeans, the buttons undone. Gaara leaned over him, the knife appearing from...somewhere, Naruto didn't want to puzzle it out now... and skipping over Naruto's ribs.

The blonde arched into it, gasping. He spread his legs, wanting to press against the redhead, but Gaara's free hand gripped his hip, telling him to stay still. The wonderful, beautiful teal enveloped him, their eyes locking as Gaara began...

..._ oh God... _

...the knife cut fiery trails of pleasure into the skin below his ribs --

-- another symbol?

Naruto didn't care, as long as the delicious pain continued forever. He whimpered plaintively, needing ...

"Pl-please... _cut me_... dee-deeper..."

The metal obliged, diving into his skin --

"_God! Gaara –"_

Gaara's other hand slowly urged him out of his jeans, the knife going back to its tantalizing dance over his skin without cutting him. Naruto raised his hands to unbuckle the belt --

-- _oh God yes the belt _--

-- and undo the pants. Gaara's eyes challenged him, commanded him, and Naruto shifted into a kneeling position as the redhead pulled off his T-shirt. The taller kid showed only the slightest flicker of a reaction, only the darkening eyes and a flexing of his body betraying his pleasure as Naruto filled his mouth with his silk-skinned hardness.

They moved in a violent silence, Gaara forcing himself past Naruto's gag reflex, a hand tangled tight in the blonde hair while the knife caressed the spine that the bowed head revealed to him, offered to him. Scars laced the tawny skin, and the redhead knew which ones were of his making... it gave him even more pleasure to see them, his mark of ownership over this wild yet helpless waif.

Naruto closed his eyes in bliss, a soft moan reverberating deep in his throat and shuddering over Gaara's length. The redhead's hand tightened in his hair, and the knife slipped and nicked the golden skin. Naruto moaned again at that, his mind overwhelmed by all of the sensations – Gaara's hard, unyielding shaft under his tongue, Gaara's bitter, salty essence, Gaara's knife, Gaara's dominance, lacing the air around them with danger.

Gaara tugged at his hair, and Naruto understood, letting the redhead slide out of his mouth with a soft mewl of loss. The pale, muscular body moved in the darkness, reappearing behind Naruto's kneeling figure. The knife teased his spine again, sliding down...

..._mmmh..._

"G-gaara..."

The free hand slid around Naruto, spreading his knees as far as they would go even as the knife pressed into the small of his back, urging him to open himself by arching.

Naruto complied with a moan, his breathing deteriorated into sobs of pleasure. His arms fell forward onto the futon to support himself as he spread himself to the knife, to Gaara, to Gaara and the knife --

-- _OH GOD! -- _

_"Gaara! GAA --"_

The metal continued teasing his entrance, the point of the blade sliding over the tight muscle --

..._so...so GOOD... _

--before dancing back up to Naruto's back. The blonde whimpered in disappointment. Pleasure raced through his veins, his body needing --

-- _finally,_ finally Gaara moved close, and Naruto could feel him pressing against him.

"Please..._Gaara_...!"

Then he was inside him, fully – Naruto felt something tear, felt the burning discomfort as he was stretched...

_-- ohmygod _--

Thrusting, pounding – Gaara's teeth on his lips, the knife carving a meandering line up his side --

-- _YES_ --

"Oh my fucking... YES! Harder, please..._please...PLEASE!"_

_-- heat twisting inside him -- _

"M-more..."

Gaara was – Gaara was _panting._ Naruto moaned loudly at the sound. That he could do that to the redhead...

_...hard hard hard rough tearing him YES blood down his thigh OH GOD harder HARDER deeper all the way completely his GAARA -- _

"GAARAAAA!"

Bliss-- coursing through him, drawing back and returning...Naruto rested on his elbows, panting. He whimpered as Gaara pounded into him --

-- _aaah..._

_... yes -- _

-- and climaxed with a choked gasp. The blonde closed his eyes, shivering at the wash of warmth inside him.

They moved slowly, languorously from their positions, Gaara sliding out of him. The snow swirled outside the window, and shadows flowed around them as they fell asleep, Gaara's handpressing onthe kanji.

_Ai._

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heh.

I GOT GAARA BACK! And there was even a paragraph of his POV! Can you find it?

You like?

Tell me!


	39. Chapter 39

Here's 39...

love you all!

Once we reach 40( if we reach 40) I'm going to have a big buffet!

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Whore Street

The snow whirled thick around him as he walked down the Street toward the Konoha. The cliques were huddled under their shelters, looking miserable, but Naruto couldn't have felt better. His body felt like it had been dipped in warm syrup, and he felt so... comfortable... about himself, with himself, that he couldn't help but grin hugely at anyone who caught his eye.

Fresh belt-stripes decorated his back beneath his coat and sweatshirt, and he ached deliciously from the night before. He rubbed at the spot under his ribs, where the new symbol lay... splayed over the left side of his belly, sprawling over him in a blatant declaration of ownership. And the other, beneath his jeans, the intricate many-tiered and elegant strokes white scars by now, never to fade.

_Sa_,_ suna. _Sand.

_Ai_. Love.

He had awoken alone this morning, curled up in Gaara's bed. He had taken a shower and had just been dressing when Gaara returned from.. somewhere.

Needless to say, he'd had to take another shower later on.

He sighed in contentment, his hands burrowed deep in his pockets. He was truly, undilutedly _happy_. He'd have to go down to Slum once more sometime to tell Haku about this.

He reached the awning and stepped under, stopping short when he saw the crew, along with Kakashi, Gai and Iruka, sitting leaned towards each other and speaking in low, earnest tones. "Wow. What's going on here?"

Nine shocked faces whipped around to look at him, and a silence threatened. Thankfully, Kakashi saved the day. "We were worrying about you."

Naruto might have considered this a great thing to do, but obviously nobody else under the awning agreed with him. Kakashi quailed a bit under the sudden barrage of glares he was confronted with. "Hey, honesty is the best."

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, it really is."

He sat down on Sasuke and his mattress and started unlacing his shoes. The others were silent behind him.

"Goddamnit dobe, we were really scared." Sasuke's voice was tight.

"Oh please... I'm in such a good mood, teme. Don't ruin it." Naruto didn't even mention the un-Sasuke-ness of the other kid's remark. If Sasuke wanted to be Mr. Hyde, he could.

"Oh really? Did you get _fucked _by our favorite serial killer again?" They were sitting back to back, the others a shocked audience. Sasuke's back was tense and he trembled against Naruto.

Naruto snarled. "As a matter of fact, teme, I _did_. I don't know why that's any of your fucking business."

Soft gasps sounded around them, and Sasuke went rigid.

The rest of the day passed in an uneasy silence. No one seemed to want to say anything. Lee and Gai went home soon, and Iruka and Kakashi went into the shop to have some fun. Sasuke stayed sitting on the side of the mattress, his knees pulled to his chest. Naruto wondered whether he should ask, but – he didn't want to get into a fight.

So he curled up on the mattress, savoring the pain on his back, and dreamed of Gaara.

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hmm. Kinda shitty chap, but there's a Sasuke bash!YAY!

heh.

PLEASE REVIEW. I know that there's times when its pretty dead on the site, but if I can see my hit count filling up and no reviews are coming in, I get pretty...

PISSED.

SO REVIEW. NOW.

(you'll get a replica of Gaara's knife)


	40. Chapter 40

Hey! God, shouldn't there be an end sometime soon?

Chap 40!

The promised buffet is under the review button!

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Whore Street

"Quit following me, damnit!"

"No! Dobe, I want to talk to you!"

Naruto stopped. He was headed for the bus stop beyond Whore Street in order to go to Slum, and Sasuke had followed him from the Konoha. They stood close to the parking lot, the snow packed hard beneath their feet and cars inching past through the slush. "What do you want to talk about?"

Sasuke had taken to wearing his long black coat against the cold. He smoked his cigarette for a while, quiet, as the snow settled onto his hair. Then he murmured, so softly that Naruto had to strain his ears to hear it, "I'm worried about you. About this... thing of yours. With eyeliner-m – with Gaara."

"There's nothing to be worried about, teme." Naruto lifted his chin. "I... I'm happy." He cringed a bit when he heard what he'd just said, but it was true, despite its unbearable sappiness.

"Dobe..." Sasuke sounded desperate. "... he's a fucking _murderer_, dammit! I saw the thing he cut into you --"

"You saw the 'ai'? When?"

"That time I visited you in the hospital – anyways, I just don't think – oh my motherfucking God."

Naruto simply stepped closer to the taller boy, his hand holding his T-shirt up so that the _sa_/_suna_ was exposed to the cold. Sasuke bit his lip, his eyes scanning the symbol's curving slashes and short, arcing strokes.

The blonde pulled his T-shirt back down and zipped his jacket up. "I'm happy, Sasuke."

The black-haired boy stared down at the hard layer of snow that obscured the sidewalk. A new silence fell.

"I – shit, dobe, promise me..."

"What?" Naruto prompted.

"Promise me that – Will you go on working?"

Naruto shrugged. "Think so. He doesn't seem to mind. What should I promise you?"

Sasuke paused to grind out his cigarette and light a new one. "Promise me we'll..." his hand sketched nervous circles in the air.

Naruto understood. "_Oh_. Of course, teme. Why wouldn't we stay friends?"

"..._becauseIloveyou_..." the mumble was too quiet for Naruto to hear.

"Goddamnit, teme. Get over yourself. Why wouldn't we, then? And this time so I can hear it."

Sasuke grinned suddenly. "Because you're a dobe. Forget about it. It's the snow. Drives me crazy."

Naruto laughed. "Whatever. So, you all right now?"

"_I_ was fine all along. You're the one with the problems."

Naruto laughed again. "I've got somewhere to go, teme. I'll see you at work."

Sasuke watched the blonde walk off, feeling ridiculously relieved. Thank whatever that the younger kid hadn't heard his mumbled confession...

He'd never have lived _that _one down.

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hehe. so... I looked through my reviews and this is what came out:

first place – chappie 16 with the bloody lemon(9 reviews) You guys are real perverts!

tied for second place – chappie 7 with LeeNeji, chappie 11 with Sasu bashing by Gaara(both 8 reviews)

tied for third place – chappie 26's angsting, chappie 31 Gaara's disappearance(7 reviews)

yupyupyup. Buffet's beneath the review button. You know, I think this going to be a long night.


	41. Chapter 41

okay...Now what?

I have absolutely no idea where I'm going. Hopefully to some kind of an end.

Thank you guys so much for all of your support!

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Whore Street

Haku laughed delightedly, his clear voice ringing through the bar. The tall, scarred man next to him raised an eyebrow. His arm was draped around Haku's shoulders. Across from them, Naruto had just finished telling them one of his stupidest jokes. Haku always made him go wacky.

The tall man shifted, leaning forward. "That was one of the worst jokes I've ever heard, kiddo."

Haku swatted his shoulder. "Duh, Master. That's why it's funny."

Zabuza turned his eyes to the lithe, black-haired figure half-draped over his lap. "Oh really, Haku?"

The boy just rolled his eyes, taking a deep drag of his cigarette. "So," he started, turning to Naruto. "What's up with _your_ icicle?"

Naruto just smirked.

Zabuza broke into laughter this time. "Fuck. That I'd ever see Jiraiya's little ice queen find a dude... Strange times."

Haku rolled his eyes again and cast Naruto a smile. "I'm really happy for you, Naruto."

The blonde nodded and watched the couple across from him engage in a lively make-out session, his lips curving into a small smile. They'd just come to the bar, but Naruto decided he didn't want to ruin their contentment just now – harmonious times like this were definitely not the norm in their relationship.

He drained his coffee and stood. "I'll get going, lovebirds."

Haku protested a bit, but Naruto waved it away. "See you."

He turned and left, still catching Zabuza's grateful glance. Grinning, he kicked up a bit of snow as he made his way back to the bus stop. He still had time before work started on the Street, so he took a different line to where a cluster of tall family-blocks bristled into the sky.

Naruto had no idea whether he'd be home – did he work? How did he pay for the place? He had so many questions! -- but took a chance nevertheless, stepping out into the snow and heading through the bare, leafless little park that always accompanied these block clusters. A few others got off the bus with him and dispersed into different directions.

Though Naruto remembered nothing of the way they'd taken last night, he'd taken the bus back this morning and could find his way just fine by now. He scanned the rows of doorbells at the glass entrance doors to Gaara's family-block. Hmmm... one significant detail that he had forgotten to take note of.

What the hell was Gaara's last name?

Of course, when he found it, it was obvious.

He pressed the button next to the taped down slip of paper that had _Suna _scrawled on it. Huh. Writing. Another thing he couldn't imagine Gaara doing, right up there with talking and cuddling.

After a few minutes of waiting in the cold, he was about to give up and return to the bus stop. Just as he began to turn away, the door buzzed. He pressed it open and walked up the stairs. Nervousness began to prick at him. What if Gaara was angry at him for coming unannounced? This was probably the second time during this whole... thing... that Naruto had done something without the Sandman's permission, the first being the kiss.

He brushed the uneasiness away and continued climbing. If Gaara had a problem, then he had a problem. He couldn't change it now.

The stairwell was silent, though Naruto caught snatches of talking and the sound of virtvids from behind the apartment doors. The cold light of the early afternoon shone mercilessly onto the scuffed and faded linoleum of the steps, the scraped and stained walls. Though Naruto had grown up farther out on the fringes of the City, he'd been born and weaned in one of these family-blocks, and some of his earliest memories were of defacing such stairwells with his crayons, his mother's voice shocked in the background. The remembering made him smile.

He finally reached Gaara's floor. The door stood a crack wide open, and Naruto slid inside. He took off his shoes before calling, "Gaara?"

He didn't get an answer – not that he'd expected one. He stepped to the right side of the corridor, where two doors led to the kitchen and the living room. He glanced into the white-tiled kitchen – a few dirty dishes in the sink, window open and letting cold air stream inside, a newspaper on the countertop – and then into the living room.

Gaara was sitting on his couch – a red, amazingly comfortable thing that faced the rooms' windows –, wearing only jeans. His head was tilted back, one arm stretched along the backrest and the other holding a glass of clear liquid. His eyes were half-closed, and Naruto could feel them on his body as he walked to the couch.

He bent, sniffing at the glass. The familiar sting of vodka rose from it, strong and sharp. "Huh. I never figured you for an alcoholic."

Gaara gave him the almost-grin. Naruto took that as an invitation and sat down next to the redhead.

They sat in comfortable quiet for what felt like forever, the light playing over them. There was no hugging, no touching, but there was an undercurrent of intimacy that made it seem more erotic and emotional than any conversation Naruto had ever had. Gaara sipped slowly of his vodka, his pale, muscular form still as a statue other wise.

Naruto stayed on the couch, knees pulled to his chest, until the light began waning. He stood then, and chuckled softly. "Shit, man... three fucking days. Three fucking days is all it took."

Still laughing, he slipped into his jacket and moved toward the door of the living room. Behind him, he felt the heavy gaze travel over him. He slipped on his shoes, and was reaching for the doorknob when a hand caught his shoulder.

Gaara tangled his fingers into his hair and bared the tawny neck, biting down hard. His other hand slid under Naruto's shirt, scraping over the kanji there. Naruto closed his eyes, his breath quickening as the redhead lapped up his blood.

As usual, it was over too suddenly, and Naruto had to support himself on the door when Gaara released him. The Sandman cast him one last, bottomless look, and then turned away, walking back to the living room.

Naruto waited until his breathing returned to normal, then left.

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all right. I want this to be over. I will force it to be over. Two more chapters, and I will go on strike.

Help...

please review.


	42. Chapter 42

puh...end, you stupid, wonderful fic!

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Whore Street

"You're twenty-three now, aren't you?"

Gaara's hand traced one of his fresh cuts in confirmation.

"I have a present for you."

No response.

"Huh... well, then not."

The hand pressed down hard, pulling a moan from the blonde.

"...all right, all right...I'll get it...just – ah..."

Gaara moved away, and Naruto stood, groaning softly in pleasure at the sting between his legs, the burn of his sliced-open skin. The weather had gotten even colder, but no more snow fell. Instead, bone-dry, crystal-clear cold rattled through the days, freezing spidery flowers of ice onto the windows during the night.

The aquamarine light of very early morning sighed around the bedroom, the shadows inky black. Naruto shivered a bit, instantly missing the warmth of Gaara's thick comforter. He moved to where his bag leaned against the closet, rummaging around until he found what he was looking for. He returned to the bed, burrowing into the comforter with a little sigh before turning to face Gaara.

"As soon as I saw it, I thought it was perfect." Naruto whispered, smiling. The redhead's teal orbs, still lust-darkened, waited expectantly. His smooth, pale shoulders tensed and shifted in the light, darkness moving with the flow of his muscles.

Naruto sat up and handed him the object. "I didn't wrap it. It would have ruined the effect."

Gaara's eyes traveled over the leather, the intricately etched designs and the slight curve. He slid the blade out of the sheath, his eyes flashing at the icy, promise-whispering gleam of the steel. Dropping the sheath, he brought the knife to rest on Naruto's chest, testing it on the tawny golden skin. The metal slipped through the taut flesh like butter, tearing a strangled whimper from the blonde.

Gaara pulled the blade away, licking the blood off before slipping it back in its sheath. He leaned down and bit at the cut, his filed teeth forcing more blood to the surface as his hands came to rest on either side of Naruto's head. The blonde moaned again, but they had just climaxed after a long night of games, and Gaara felt no need to take the waif again.

He latched onto Naruto's earlobe one last time before shifting his body away so that they were no longer touching. Naruto sighed in tired satisfaction and rested his head near the redhead's hip. "I'm glad you liked it, Gaara."

°

Naruto awoke earlier than usual, and slipped out of bed and into one of Gaara's sweatshirts. The garment was too long for him, and baggy enough to slip down on one shoulder, but it was warm. He moved into the kitchen, where the bluish-pink of dawn glowed softly on the cold tiles. Putting water on to boil, he fixed tea for himself and laced it with a healthy shot of rum.

He curled up on the couch with his mug, sipping carefully, reveling in the burning warmth that spread through him.

It had been four months since he had been pinned against a Force car and drowned in green – three months since he had first spent the night here. Two months since he'd begun spending his nights here after work. He still stayed at the Konoha during the day, but after the business died down he caught the bus here.

Some of his questions had been answered – not by Gaara, but by logical thinking and asking the right things. Gaara did odd jobs, not consistent enough to stay in one spot for long. He always managed to somehow save himself from getting broke – Naruto suspected that he used a few of the Sandman's methods whenever it looked dire moneywise -- and with Naruto's job paying for food and such, they were pretty comfortable.

The Sandman didn't care about Naruto's whoring – as long as he cleaned up after work. Naruto made sure to scrub every possible trace of his customers off of himself at the Arcade before he came here. The one time he hadn't...

He shuddered. Not even the bliss that he usually felt while being hurt by Gaara had been able to dull _that_ pain.

The Konoha crew was as usual, with a few couples. Lee had a tall, milky-eyed boy trailing around behind him every time he wasn't working, and Kakashi and Iruka were getting impossibly mushy. Even Shino and Kiba had begun to... cuddle. Sasuke was a teme – no surprises there --, Ino and Tenten giggled a lot, Shikamaru lay around staring.

Yeah, life was good.

Naruto felt Gaara's heavy gaze between his shoulder blades, and felt his heartbeat quicken. He prudently put the mug of tea aside – just in time, too.

The redhead pulled him to his feet, pushing the sweatshirt up and off of his thin frame. The other kid's pale body was naked but for boxers, and his hands were cold on Naruto's clothes-warmed skin. The right was empty and soon found its way to the blonde's hip, holding him still, but the other was loosely curled around the new knife.

God, the things Gaara could do with a knife --

"Oh...G-gaara --"

-- the blade weaved a cold, dangerous pattern down Naruto's neck, coming to rest at a cold-hardened nipple. Gaara held the blonde in place with his free hand as he pressed down on the nub of flesh, the blade freeing a pinprick of blood.

"_Gaara_ --"

A line down his abdomen, following the line of golden hair, blood welling up effortlessly beneath the razor-sharp knife, heat and pain and cold and pleasure shooting through Naruto's body, knotting in the small of his back to a pool of fiery need – an arc on his shoulder, sweet agony coiling like a tense snake – a slash just above the swell of his buttocks, tearing his skin hotly and pouring bliss through him -- sharp teeth leaving bloody imprints around his nipple as a hot tongue licked up the blood --

"God... _Gaara_-- more... yes--"

Gaara forced Naruto to the floor, his upper body supported by the couch and his knees spread on the carpet -- the blade slid down, down and further down, dancing teasingly on his thighs, scraping the _ai _lightly --

"_Aaah..._"

And then the metal was gone, for a second, the time it took Gaara to slide out of his last garment, but it was long enough to pull a moan of loss from Naruto's mouth. A second moan trembled out of him as Gaara returned, pressing hard against him and the knife cutting a line over his thigh.

God, he _loved_ this... this was so...so _perfect_..."Mhmm..._please_..."

And then --

"YES!"

He tore inside and burned and needed, trying to press back but the hand on his hip wouldn't let him --

-- the knife dipped and danced over his back--

"Please...oh God... _deeper_ – I can't – I _can't_..._more_--"

Gaara pounded into him, the knife barely moving anymore as he fastened his teeth on Naruto's shoulder, biting down hard... he was so deep and painful and hard inside him, and when his thrusts hit --

-- _THAT --_

" GOD – _Gaara..._" They were the same thing – Gaara was his God and his God was Gaara --

Over and over again, heat racing through him with each slam of their hips, each incredibly violent and so perfect thrust --

More and more --

"Deeper..."

"HARDER..."

"_MORE--"_

The knife plunged into the couch, missing Naruto's neck by mere millimeters --

Gaara was losing control --

Both hands gripped his hips now, angling him for _harder_ – _deeper_ – _faster --_

Naruto could hear himself shrieking with pleasure/pain/_need_...

... "Oh my _god... Gaara_ --"

Then – then –

"_Aaaaaah --"_

It shuddered through him, his body electrified with his release...

Gaara tore into him so hard that he felt his blood slide down his thigh, quick and warm from the rip inside him...

"_Naruto – so ... g-god ...!_"

Naruto froze. He felt the hot wash of Gaara's climax within him, felt his body finally calm down just as the Sandman half-collapsed over him, trembling.

He had – he had snarled his _name_.

They were silent, and once their speeding respiration had gone back to normal Gaara slid out of him and left the room. Naruto slowly got to his feet and dressed in the Sandman's sweatshirt.

Gaara didn't speak. He didn't make any noise, beside the gasps of his climax and a the cold growls of his anger.

There had been two times – once he had spoken, once he had lost control.

But to say his _name_.

Naruto drained the rest of his now-cold tea. The rum steadied him. It had just been the climax. After all, Naruto sure as hell screamed things he never would tell otherwise when he came.

He returned to the kitchen and washed the mug before going to the bathroom to clean up. Gaara was already there, throwing a used tissue away. Naruto wiped himself off and dabbed some alcohol on his cuts, feeling Gaara's eyes on him the whole time.

Once he had finished, the blonde looked up and asked, "Do you want something to eat?"

Gaara didn't respond.

Naruto took that as a negative. "Can I stay a bit longer, or do you have to go to work?"

Gaara still didn't respond. His eyes were greener than Naruto had ever seen them before.

Naruto bit his lip. "Y-you said my name."

At that, Gaara pushed past him and out of the bathroom. Naruto closed his eyes. Somehow, that reaction hurt him.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when, somewhere in the corridor, the icy voice murmured, amusement lacing it, "You should start getting used to it."

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heh. Okaaaaaaaay. This is either the end or I write an epilogue with a bit of LeeNeji, Shino and Kiba's date, and something GaaNaru.

You'll have to tell me what you want though!


	43. Chapter 43

Hehehehe. This is basically unabashed cuteness and fluff, with maybe a bit of cool!Gaa-chan mixed in...

This is officially the last part of Whore Street.

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Whore Street Epilogue

"Christmas Eve"

Shino felt weird. Of course he'd been in a Cheap-Burger joint often; who hadn't? Everyone knew the feel of a Cheap-Burger joint – greasy tables, sinfully delicious burgers, fries and anything else that could be deep fried and stripped of all nutritious worth. Yes, he'd been in a Cheap-Burger often.

But never as a date.

Kiba sat next to him, Akamaru lay curled up beneath the table. Their plates were empty – Shino _loved_ the burgers they made in these places, he just couldn't help himself – and they were just sitting quietly, leaned against each other.

Kiba chuckled a bit. "You know what?"

"Hmm?"

"Tomorrow's Christmas Day."

"And?"

"That means that tonight is Christmas Eve."

Shino didn't really get where the dog-boy was going with this.

"God, Shino! Christmas! As in presents?"

"Uh-huh."

Kiba sighed in exasperation. '"I had it so well planned out... ruin my lines why don't you."

Shino removed his goggles and stared at the other kid. "Could you get on with it, whatever it is?"

Kiba rolled his eyes and dug into his pocket, coming up with a little folded piece of paper. "Here. And don't read it in front of me. Read it tomorrow or something."

"All right."

Kiba shook his head and grinned. "God I love you, man."

Shino felt faint. "I uh – I l-love you too."

°

Lee groaned. "God, I felt so sorry for the girl! The way she always had to put up with those bitches! When they did the trick with the toothpaste I almost cried!"

Neji looked at him with his slow, amused smile. "You did cry."

"No I didn't."

"Oh yes you did."

Lee rolled his eyes. "Fine. So I did."

They were walking from the big City Plaza virtcinema to the bus stop. They'd just gotten out of a virtvid about a girl who got picked on by her whole class until the most popular boy fell in love with her... hah. It had been a lovely, extremely predictable low-budget production.

Neji stopped suddenly in the middle of the Plaza's concrete park. It was dark, and the next people were quite a few yards behind them. Lee looked up at the other boy curiously. "What's up?"

Neji shrugged. His milky eyes were fixed on the ground. "It's Christmas, you know."

Lee laughed. "Of course I do! That's why we went to the virtvids today. Christmas Eve is my free night. I have free on Christmas, on Easter Sunday, and on Valentine's Day --" He clamped a hold on his babbling.

"Valentine's Day?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. That'll be a fun date, then."

Lee's eyes widened. Planning ahead! Neji was planning ahead. Like in a marriage! His heart pounded.

Neji smiled slightly. "Can I steal a Christmas kiss?"

What could he say? Neji could steal a whole lot more than that.

°

"Mhmm..." Naruto sighed sleepily. Gaara lay beside him on the futon, his knee between the blonde's thighs. The knife lay between them under the comforter, and Naruto could feel blood trickling from his wounds.

A hand traced the kanji on his side, soothing him to sleep. Naruto slipped into slumber, and almost missed the soft, cold, "Merry Christmas."

He moved closer to the tall, slender form next to him. "Love you too, Gaara..." he mumbled.

°

Shino stared at the piece of paper in his hands.

Should he, laugh, cry, or jump up and hug Kiba to death?

It was possibly the sappiest thing he'd ever read. He darted a quick look around the space under the Konoha's awning – everyone was still asleep – before rereading it.

_Loving you is like finding a shiny penny on the sidewalk._

_So many never noticed it before._

_So many walked by it before._

_Until I saw a little gleam, bent down and picked it up._

_Love is priceless._

Shino rolled his eyes. But of course, behind his goggles, they were overflowing.

THE END.

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

the poem is not mine. It's by Brownielocks, I think it's really cheesy. Two lines are missing. If you want to read the whole thing, type 'cheesy romance love poems' in on yahoo search.

Heh. This was like... so much fluff.

You guys asked for it.

I want to thank you all for being the wonderful readers you were, and ask one last thing:

I'm missing 16 reviews till 200. PLEASE.


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